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THE  TORCH 

A  Revolutionary  Journal  of 

ANARCHIST-COMMUNISM. 


A'iT 


m**:- 


A     Rpvolntionnrv     Review 


A      JOURNAL      OF      ANARCHf-T 


AriaroMsl  Communisiik 

Some  Anarchist  Papers. 


w.c   |]«l^t 


'  *f-A  /"':,  avv 


ij 


IfO 


VO 


Confessions  of  an  Anarchist 


INTRODUCTORY. 

The  author  of  this""work  has  spent  some  ten 
years  among  Anarchists,  and  in  the  study  of 
Anarchist  publications.  He  was  for  some  time 
secretary  to  two  Anarchist  "groups,"  and  a 
well-known  figure  in  Anarchist  circles.  Besides 
this,  he  was  an  occasional  contributor  with  his 
pen  to  the  Torch  of  Anarchy,  Freedom,  The 
Commonweal,  Liberty,  and  The  Alarm.  He 
has,  consequently,"^  some  claim  to  be  con- 
sidered an  authority  on  the  subject  of  which 
he  treats. 


220819 


CONTENTS 


Page 


I.  Anarchy  a  Negation  of  Morals  and  Prin- 
ciples -------I 

II.  Anarchists  Immoral  and  Unprincipled    -  7 

III.  Police-paid  Spies    -        -        -        -         -  17 

IV.  Anarchist  "  Literature "         -        -        -  26 
V.  The    "Groups" 32 

VI,  Bomb-making        -----  40 

VII.  Anarchists  at  Work        -         -         -        -  51 

VIII.  An  Anarchist  Conference        -        -        ^  ^y 

IX.  Anarchist  Communities          -        -        -  74 

X.  Anarchism   in   England :     Its    History, 

Leaders,  and  Principles     *  -        -        -  89 

XI,  Some  Anarchist  Apostles        -        -        -  99 

XII,  Anarchist  Precepts          -         -        -        -  123 

XIII,  How  Anarchist  Assassins  are  made         -  136 

XIV,  The  Lighter  side  of  Anarchism        -        -  147 
XV.  The  Absurdities  of  Anarchism        -        -  160 

XVI.  Anarchism  a  Bundle  of  Contradictions    -  169 

XVII.  "Propaganda  by  Deed"        -        -        -  185 

XVIII.  Does  Socialism  lead  to  Anarchism  -        -  192 

XIX.  A  plea  for  the  Suppression  of  Violent 

Anarchist  Publications         -        -        -  198 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Some  Anarchist  Papers 

An  Anarchist  Print       -        -        - 

Mateo  Morale      ------ 

«« Pineapple  Bomb"  used  against  King  Alfonso 
A  Russian  Revolutionist     -        -        -        - 

Lucoheni      --.-... 
Leon  Czolgosz     ------ 

The  "  Red  Virgin  "  of  the  Commune    - 
Anarchism  and  Socialism   -        -        -        - 


Pa«o. 

Frontispieoe 

To  face  page  28 

36 


46 
52 
62 
64 
120 
196 


I- 

ANARCHY    A   NEGATION    OF    MORALS 
AND    PRINCIPLES. 

Association  with  Anarchists  is  not  calculated 
to  inspire  one  with  feelings  of  love  for  such 
people.  Rather  the  contrary.  Lamartine,  the 
historian,  in  a  fit  of  disgust  on  witnessing  some 
extra  revolting  spectacle  of  "  man's  inhumanity 
to  man,"  is  said  to  have  exclaimed  :  "  The  more 
I  see  of  my  fellow-creatures  the  more  I  respect 
my  dog."  Substitute  "  Anarchists  "  for  "  fellow- 
creatures,"  and  the  phrase  admirably  sums  up 
my  sentiments  regarding  the  preachers  and 
promoters  of  Anarchy. 

Happening,  some  years  back,  to  become 
possessed  of  some  of  the  writings  of  Prince 
Kropotkin,  Elis^e  Reclus,  and  other  Anarchist 
idealists,  and  being  at  the  time  of  a  somewhat 
Utopian  turn  of  mind,  I  became  enamoured 
with  the  Anarchist  idea  of  "  emancipating " 
humanity  from  the  "  tyranny  "  of  Parliaments, 
county  councils  and  school  boards,  and  replacing 


2      CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

these  "  useless  and  effete  institutions  '*  with  a 
spanking  brand  new  set  of  arrangements,  under 
which  it  was  confidently  expected  everything 
would  work  out  the  very  pink  of  perfection.  I 
became  a  full-blown  Anarchist,  joined  the 
"  party,"  and  in  course  of  time  became  secretary, 
first  of  one  Anarchist  "  group,"  and  later  of 
another.  Like  other  devotees  of  the  cult,  I 
somehow  managed  to  convince  myself  that  every 
evil  under  the  sun  had  its  source  in  "Govern- 
ment ;  "  and,  having  thus,  in  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Anarchy,  found  the  culprit  guilty,  I,  like 
other  Anarchists,  straightway  pronounced  sen- 
tence of  death  on  this  "  monster  of  iniquity," 
confident  in  the  belief  that  with  its  abolition 
would  disappear — hey,  presto!  like — all  the  ills 
to  which  human  flesh  is  heir,  and  life  on  this 
"  vale  of  tears  "  at  once  become  a  veritable  Eden 
minus  the  Tempter.  Disillusion  followed  shortly 
on  making  closer  acquaintance  with  the  "  com- 
panions." Far  from  being  the  "  perfect  beings  " 
— "  laws  unto  themselves  " — I  had  pictured 
them  in  my  mind  before  joining  the  party,  I 
found  them  quite  the  reverse.  I  left  them  ulti- 
mately in  utter  disgust,  they  themselves  having 
convinced  me  of  the  folly  (not  to  say  criminality) 
of  the  whole  Anarchist  scheme.    And  here,  lest 


»   « « » 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.      3 

it  should  be  said  I  am  misrepresenting,  I  hasten 
to  confess  my  acquaintance  with  many  caUing 
themselves  Anarchists  whose  lives  prove  them  to 
have  reached  as  near  the  pinnacle  of  perfection 
as  is  humanly  possible.  But  these  are  merely 
fancied  Anarchists,  and  not  such  in  reality  :  their 
whole  creed  and  life  proclaiming  them  to  be 
altogether  out  of  touch  with  logical  Anarchist 
formulae.  Defining  their  particular  "  Anarchism" 
as  the  "  right  of  the  individual  to  do  as  he 
pleases,  provided  that  in  so  doing  he  does  not 
infringe  the  like  liberty  of  others'"  they  have 
nothing  in  common  with  that  of  the  real  An- 
archist— who  believes  in  the  absolute  and  un- 
restricted liberty  of  the  individual,  and  the 
total  abolition  of  government  and  authority  in 
all  its  forms — and  are  in  reality  the  actual 
opposite  of  Anarchists,  for  they  admit,  by  their 
definition,  the  necessity  of  authority  and  laws  to 
enforce  the  will  of  society  on  its  refractory 
members. 

It  will  be  said,  no  doubt,  that  to  condemn  an 
idea  because  of  the  anti-social  and  criminal 
characteristics  of  its  professors  is  both  unfair 
and  misleading.  That  this  would  be  so  as  re- 
gards most  principles  I  readily  admit.  But  this 
of    Anarchism    is    an    exception,  inasmuch    as, 


4      CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

being  an  immoral  and  anti-social  doctrine  in 
itself  (as  I  shall  prove),  it  follows  as  a  natural 
and  consequential  result  that,  in  course  of 
time,  its  practical  followers  must  become  de- 
moralised also.  "  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know 
them/' 

Before  entering  into  detail,  let  me  endeavour 
to  substantiate  my  case.  Anarchism  being'  the 
doctrine  which  affirms  the  sacred,  sovereign, 
and  absolute  right  of  the  individual  to  do  as  he 
likes  under  all  circumstances,  at  once  shuts  out 
of  court,  as  incompatible  with  its  "principles," 
all  governance,  all  organisation,  all  system,  all 
ideas  of  society,  all  order,  all  restraint  on  the 
evilly-disposed,  all  ideas  of  morality — all  in- 
stitutions and  principles,  in  short,  which  con- 
tradistinguish civilisation  from  barbarism,  and 
denote  the  upward  progress  of  man  from  savage- 
dom,  through  slavedom  and  serfdom,  to  present- 
day  commercial  civilisation.  This  is  not  mere 
assertion — the  statement  carries  its  own  proof. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  foregoing,  who  then 
will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  the  Anarchist 
affirms  the  total  irresponsibility  of  man  ;  that 
the  individual  is  not  accountable  for  his  or  her 
actions ;  tliat,  to  put  it  in  plain  language,  the 
world   is    a   huge   lunatic   asylimi,    and   all   its 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.      5 

inmates  more  or  less  "  touched "  ?  Self-con- 
fessedly "  up  the  pole "  (to  use  a  vulgarism) 
the  Anarchist,  of  course,  pictures  everyone  else 
in  the  same  elevated  position.  George  Eti^vant, 
a  prominent  French  Anarchist,  stole  dynamite 
cartridges,  and,  on  his  trial,  pleaded  that  he  was 
not  responsible.  Instead  of  consigning  him  to  a 
lunatic  asylum,  the  administrators  of  the  law 
sentenced  him  to  five  years'  penal  servitude. 
On  his  release,  he  gave  further  proof,  if  proof 
were  needed,  of  the  futility  of  the  law's  attempt 
to  cure  mental  disease  with  imprisonment,  by 
stabbing  two  policemen  whom  he  had  never  seen 
before,  and  firing  into  a  police-station. 
V  Now  a  consequence  of  a  belief  in  the  non- 
responsibility  of  man  is  the  rejection  of  the  idea 
of  good  and  evil ;  of  right  and  wrong.  "  There 
is  no  justice ;  "   writes  one  Anarchist,    "  right 

nor  wrong  ;   no  truth  ;   no  good,  no  evil 

You  have  no   '  rights '   except  the  rights    you 

win   by   might Take   what   you   can, 

and  all  you  can  ;   and  take  it  while  you  may." 

Talk  to  the  average  Anarchist  of  morality 
and  he  will  laugh  in  your  face.  And  this 
reminds  me.  Some  time  back  a  number 
of  Anarchists  who  had  been  expelled  from 
Ticino  and  Northern  Italy  arrived  in  London. 


/ 


6      CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

One  of  these  was  fond  of  telling  how  the  "  com- 
rades "  in  Italy  procured  the  wherewithal  to 
carry  on  the  "  propaganda."  A  large  audience 
would  be  drawn  together  by  means  of  placards 
to  listen  to  an  eloquent  orator  of  the  party 
discourse  on  the  deliberately  chosen  subject  of 
"  Anarchist  Morality,"  the  while  others  of  the 
"  comrades "  scattered  themselves  among  the 
spell-bound  listeners,  and  quietly  eased  them 
of  their  watches  and  purses  ! 

But  to  return.  I  have  said  that  a  logical 
Anarchist  despises  morality.  Try  to  reason 
with  him,  and  he  will  argue  somewhat  in  this 
strain  :  "  Every  action  of  the  individual,  whether 
viewed  from  the  orthodox  moral  standpoint  as 
good,  bad,  or  indifferent,  is  really  performed 
because  the  individual  cannot  help  performing  it ; 
ergo,  there  are  no  such  acts  as  good  and  bad 
acts — all  actions  are  indifferent."  So  that,  as 
was  candidly  admitted  by  a  speaker  at  the 
Paris  Anarchist  Congress  of  September,  1889, 
and  reported  in  the  London  Anarchist  Journal 
Freedom,  "  Anarchy  is  a  negation  of  both  morals 
and  'principles.'^'' 


11. 

ANARCHISTS    IMMORAL    AND 
UNPRINCIPLED. 

I  have  shown,  on  the  admission  of  Anarchists 
themselves,  that  Anarchy  is  minus  morals  and 
principles  ;  that  the  words  "  good  "  and  "  evil  " 
are  not  to  be  found  in  an  Anarchist  vocabulary. 
Putting  aside  the  fact  that  Anarchists  themselves 
give  the  lie  to  their  teaching  by  battling  against 
what  they  are  pleased  to  term  the  "  evil "  of 
authority,  I  think  sufficient  evidence  has  been 
adduced  to  warrant  the  assertion  that  a  belief 
in  Anarchism  must  tend  to  corrupt  rather  than 
to  elevate  those  who  embrace  its  doctrines. 
Thus  it  comes  about  that  the  logical  Anarchist 
is  often  a  person  of  shady  reputation.  Will 
anyone  be  surprised  to  learn  that  the  Anarchist 
has  strong  objections  to  hard  work  ?  Many 
Anarchists  I  have  met  abstain  from  work  "  on 
principle."  An  article  in  the  Sheffield  Anarchist, 
headed  "  Don't  Work,"  recommended  "  total 
abstinence,"  so  that  industrious  British  workmen 


8      CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

who  like  it  in  plenty  may  have  their  fill.  The 
stricture  upon  Anarchists  as  a  body,  once  passed 
in  Justice,  the  organ  of  the  Social  Democratic 
Federation,  of  being  "  without  moral  character," 
is  certainly  accurate.  Criminals  abound  in  the 
"  party."  Surprising  as  it  must  appear  to  some 
to  learn  that  Socialists  are  the  bitterest  enemies 
of  Anarchists  and  Anarchism,  yet  anyone  ac- 
quainted with  the  two  theories  will  see  at  once 
that  this  is  as  it  should  be,  for  Socialism  is  the 
exact  opposite  of  Anarchism,  both  in  theory 
and  tactics.  The  late  Herr  Leibknecht,  the 
well-known  Socialist  Member  of  the  German 
Reichstag,  once  divided  the  Anarchists  into  three 
divisions:  (i)  criminals  and  semi-criminals  who 
throw  an  Anarchist  cloak  over  their  crime ; 
(2)  police  agents ;  and  (3)  the  defenders  of 
so-called  "  propaganda  by  deed."  Strictly  speak- 
ing, there  is  another  section :  (4)  that  of  the 
"perfect  beings"  I  have  already  mentioned; 
but  these,  as  I  said,  are  Anarchists  only  in  name. 
As  to  which  of  the  four  sections  predominate  in 
the  party  it  would  be  hard  to  say — certainly  not 
the  last-mentioned. 

Class  I  comprises  rogues  of  every  description 
— pickpockets,  "  individual  expropriators  "  (com- 
monly called  burglars  and  thieves),  abortionists, 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.      9 

professional  swindlers,  members  of  the  "  long 
firm,"  souteneurs  (these  are  confined  to  the  French 
and  German  colony  in  and  around  Soho),  dealers 
in  bogus  businesses,  medical  quacks  (at  least 
four  can  be  seen  in  the  streets  and  market-places 
of  London),  makers  and  passers  of  counterfeit 
coin,  forgers,  practisers  of  the  "  propaganda  by 
deed "  (Anarchist  phraseology  for  murder  and 
theft),  incendiaries  who  fire  houses  for  the  insur- 
ance (some  few  years  back  this  was  reduced  to 
a  fine  art  among  the  foreign  Anarchists  of  America 
until  discovered,  and  several  prominent  Anar- 
chists were  sent  to  prison  as  a  result),  and  the 
various  other  kinds  of  rogue  that  from  time  to 
time  figure  in  the  Criminal  Courts. 

At  the  back  of  a  small  shop  in  a  certain  street 
in  St.  Luke's,  Clerkenwell,  as  choice  a  set  of 
desperadoes  collected  as  ever  met  under  one 
roof.  They  styled  themselves  the  "  Free  Initiative 
Anarchist  Group."  Among  its  members  were 
well-known  (to  the  police)  Anarchist  pickpockets, 
burglars,  long-firm  schemers,  clever  jewel  thieves, 
and  so  on.  Here  was  hatched  many  a  successful 
burglary  and  jewel  robbery.  One  of  the  failures 
was  the  attempt  of  one  of  its  members  to  secure 
£420  worth  of  jewels  from  a  shop  in  Oxford 
Street  by  smashing  the  window  with  a  brick 


10    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

draped  in  an  Anarchist  newspaper.  One  of  the 
favourite  dodges  of  the  members  of  this  "  group  " 
to  secure  the  "  needful  "  was  to  rent  a  shop  (or, 
rather,  not  to  rent  it,  for  they  had  conscientious 
objections  to  paying  rent),  stock  it  well  with 
empty  boxes,  so  as  to  give  it  the  appearance  of 
substantiality,  adding  a  little  genuine  stock 
procured  by  means  of  the  long  firm,  then  adver- 
tising the  "  business  "  for  sale  as  a  well-estab- 
lished cc^cern.  By  this  means  they  would  net 
between  £20  and  £^0  on  each  "business" 
disposed  of,  generally  the  hard-earned  savings 
of  some  working  man  anxious  to  start  in  business 
for  himself. 

For  nearly  two  years  a  large  number  of  the 
most  active  members  of  the  German  Anarchist 
Group  of  the  International  Working  Peoples' 
Association  in  New  York  City,  and  of  the  Social 
Revolutionary  Club,  another  German  Anarchist 
organisation  in  that  city,  were  persistently  en- 
gaged in  getting  money  by  insuring  their  property 
for  amounts  far  in  excess  of  the  real  value  thereof, 
secretly  removing  everything  that  they  could, 
setting  fire  to  the  premises,  swearing  to  heavy 
losses,  and  exacting  corresponding  sums  from 
the  insurance  companies.  Explosion  of  kerosene 
lamps  was  usually  the  device  they  employed. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST,    ii 

Some  seven  or  eight  fires,  at  least,  of  this  sort 
were  set  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn  in  1884  by 
members  of  the  gang,  netting  the  beneficiaries 
an  aggregate  profit  of  thousands  of  dollars.  In 
1885  nearly  twenty  were  set,  with  equally  profit- 
able results.  The  record  for  the  first  three 
months  of  1886  was  six,  if  not  more.  The 
business  was  carried  on  with  the  most  astounding 
audacity.  One  of  these  men  had  his  premises 
insured,  fired  them,  and  presented  hi'  bill  of 
loss  to  the  company  within  twenty-four  hours 
after  getting  his  policy,  and  before  the  agent 
had  reported  the  policy  to  the  company.  The 
bill  was  paid,  and  a  few  months  later  the  same 
fellow,  under  another  name,  played  the  game 
over  again,  though  not  quite  so  speedily.  In 
one  of  the  fires  set  in  1885  a  woman  and  two 
children  were  burned  to  death.  The  two  guilty 
parties  in  this  case  were  members  of  the  Bohemian 
Anarchist  Group  and  are  now  serving  life-sen- 
tences in  prison.  Another  of  the  fires  was 
started  in  a  six-storey  tenement  house,  endanger- 
ing the  lives  of  hundreds,  but  fortunately 
injuring  no  one  but  the  incendiary.  In  one  case 
in  1886  the  fireman  saved  two  women  whom 
they  found  clinging  to  their  bedposts  in  a  half- 
suffocated  condition.     In  another,  a  man,  woman 


12    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

and  baby  lost  their  lives.  Three  members  of  the 
gang  were  arrested  in  1886  for  murdering  and 
robbing  an  old  woman  in  Jersey  City.  Two 
others  were  convicted  for  carrying  concealed 
weapons  and  assaulting  an  officer — they  were, 
in  fact,  walking  arsenals,  and  the  circumstances 
under  which  they  were  found  led  to  the  sus- 
picion that  they  were  about  to  perpetrate  a 
murder  as  well  as  a  robbery. 

A  remarkable  article  in  the  New  York  Sun 
of  May  3rd,  1886,  corroborates  the  above  by 
giving  names  and  dates,  together  with  facts  and 
figures  from  the  official  records. 

Of  this  class  of  Anarchists  (Class  i  in  our 
category)  one  may  say  with  truth  that  they 
have  no  more  compunction  in  "  besting  "  one 
of  their  own  comrades  than  in  robbing  outsiders ; 
while  for  preference  they  would  rather  "  do  " 
their  fellow-associate,  relying  on  the  victim's 
detestation  of  the  law  not  to  hand  them  over 
into  its  clutches. 

Consummate  hypocrites  and  accomplished 
liars,  they  unite  in  their  persons  all  the  roguery 
and  dishonesty  of  East-end  sweaters,  mingled  with 
the  unprincipled  characteristics  of  Seven  Dials 
rascaldom.  Regard  for  honesty  and  morality 
they    have    none.      Tired    of    theorising,    the 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    13 

members  of  the  Autonomie  Anarchist  Club  would 
resort  to  practice  by  raiding  the  Grafton  Anar- 
chist Club ;  and  the  members  of  the  latter 
would  return  the  compliment  by  swooping  down 
on  the  Autonomie  in  a  body.  And  so  on.  It  is 
said  there  is  honour  among  thieves.  But  among 
this  particular  section  of  Anarchists  this  virtue 
is  conspicuous  by  its  absence.  I  speak  on  this 
subject  with  a  feeling  of  bitterness,  for  I  have 
been  a  victim  to  these  rogues  time  and 
again. 

Of  Class  2  (spies  in  the  pay  of  the  police)  I 
speak  elsewhere.  Of  the  believers  in  so-called 
"  propaganda  by  deed "  (Class  3),  the  major 
portion  is  composed  of  those  who  incite,  or 
endeavour  to  incite,  others  to  do  that  which 
they  have  not  the  courage  to  do  themselves. 
"  Propaganda  by  deed,"  I  have  explained,  is 
Anarchist  jargon  for  murder,  robbery,  and 
crimes  against  morality.  '*  Pillage  and  murder 
the  rich"  was  the  favourite  theme  of  Le  Pere 
Peinard,  the  French  Anarchist  slang  journal, 
and  there  are  few  Anarchists  but  who  will 
and  do  endorse  those  sentiments.  Some  will 
even  go  further,  and  declare  themselves  at 
war,  not  merely  with  the  rich,  but  with  every- 
one   else.      Ravachol — thief,    murderer,    forger, 


14    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 


counterfeiter,  plunderer  of  graves— is  the  Anar- 
chists' patron 
saint,  and  is 
held  up  to  the 
world  as  a 
"  hero  "  whose 
"  example  is 
worthy  of  emu- 
lation." 

Scattered 
throughout  this 
work     will     be 
Ravachol.  found  many  ex- 

The  desperate  French  Anarchist.       tracts  from  the 

"literature"  of  Anarchism — advocating  and 
applauding  the  most  barbarous  outrages  conceiv- 
able, and  recommending  inhumanities  and  im- 
moralities more  to  be  expected  among  savages 
than  among  civilised  men  ;  articles  approving 
the  firing  of  opera  houses,  burning  policemen 
alive,  assassination  of  judges,  jurymen,  politicians, 
kings,  presidents,  etc.,  by  knife,  torch,  bomb, 
strangulation,  poison,  etc. — writings  favouring 
burglary,  incendiarism,  forgery,  stopping  trains 
for  purpose  of  plunder,  brigandage,  prostitu- 
tion, abortion.  Such  is  the  glorious|gospel  of 
Anarchy  ! 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    15 

I  could  never  understand,  when  among  the 
Anarchists,  why  so  many  of  them  are  so  remiss 
in  paying  their  debts,  and  loose  in  money  matters 
generally,  until  enlightened  by  Dr.  Creaghe, 
editor  of  the  Sheffield  Anarchist.  "  Let  me  tell 
you  clearly,"  he  says,  "  once  and  for  all,  that 
I  believe  in,  and  as  long  as  I  live  shall  do  all 
in  my  power  to  encourage,  resistance  on  the 
part  of  the  workers  to  all  kinds  of  payment^  be  it 
rent  or  otherwise.  I  shall  also  try  to  persuade  them 
to  TAKE  whatever  they  are  short  of,  be  it  food  or 
other  things,  wherever theyfind them.'' ''  The  doctor 
soon  found  that  this  new  and  convenient  "  prin- 
ciple "  could  be  applied  in  other  ways  than  those  he 
had  contemplated.  His  own  patients  rapidly  be- 
came ardent  converts,  and  the  doctor  was  soon  glad 
to  shake  the  dust  of  Sheffield  off  his  feet,  and  seek 
out  fresh  fields  and  pastures  new,  having  become, 
let  us  hope,  a  sadder  but  a  wiser  man. 

The  German  Anarchist  paper  Vorbote  once 
deploringly  lamented  the  fact  that  many  of  the 
"  companions  "  are  given  to  "  borrowing  as  much 
money  as  possible  from  their  comrades,  and, 
when  asked  to  repay  it,  reply  with  a  phrase  from 
the  programme  of  the  party  !  " 

Much  more  could  be  said  on  this  subject  of  "pro- 
paganda by  deed,"  but  the  Sheffield  Anarchists,  in 


i6    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

a  "  Manifesto  to  Criminals,"  sum  up  all  I  could 
possibly  say  by  candidly  confessing  that  the  "only 
difference  between  the  criminal  and  the  Anarchist 
is  that  the  former  thinks  he  is  doing  wrong,  while 
the  Anarchist  knows  he  is  doing  right."  And  of 
such  is  the  fraternity  of  Anarchy  !  What  a  hell 
upon  earth  would  these  misguided  wretches  bring 
about  if  only  they  could  have  their  way  ! 


III. 

POLICE-PAID  SPIES. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  speak  on  this 
subject  with  absolute  certainty.  But  associa-* 
tion  with  Anarchists  brings  one  into  contact 
with  so  many  questionable  characters  that 
doubts  naturally  arise  in  one's  mind  as  to  the 
genuineness  of  many  active  members  of  the 
party.  Continued  association  confirms  these 
doubts,  and  raises  them  almost  to  a  feeling  of 
certitude.  But  most  of  them  "  give  the  game 
away "  (to  use  a  vulgarism)  by  being  extra- 
ordinarily flush  of  money  whilst  doing  little  or 
no  work.  Some  will  stump  the  country  osten- 
sibly for  Anarchism,  but  really  for  Scotland  Yard. 
Visiting  the  various  "  groups  "  in  Scotland  and 
England  (there  are  none  in  Ireland)  periodically, 
they  usually  stay  just  sufficiently  long  in  each 
case  to  learn  the  movements  and  intentions  of 
the  local  Anarchists,  and  then  return  to  com- 
municate the  information  they  have  gathered 
to  the  police  authorities  in  London. 

B 


i8     CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  the 
notorious  and  now-dissolved  "  Club  Autonomic  " 
was  closed  simply  and  solely  because  it  had 
become  notorious  as  a  rendezvous  for  spies  in 
the  pay  of  almost  every  European  Government, 
who  notified  their  respective  Governments  of 
every  move  on  the  part  of  the  Anarchists  here 
in  London  and  the  provinces. 

The  ranks  of  Anarchy  are  simply  honey- 
combed with  spies.  Not  only  is  Scotland  Yard 
well  represented  in  the  secret  councils  of  the 
party,  but  so  also  is  the  secret  political  police 
of  every  Continental  Government.  And  of  this 
the  Anarchists  are  perfectly  well  aware,  for 
mutual  suspicion  reigns  supreme  among  them. 
So  great  is  this  feeling  of  distrust  that  few  of  the 
"  companions  "  escape  suspicion.  David  NicoU, 
who,  it  will  be  remembered,  underwent  eighteen 
months'  imprisonment  for  an  article  in  the 
Commonweal  inciting  to  the  murder  of  Mr. 
Justice  Hawkins  and  the  then  Chief-Inspector 
Melville,  has  denounced  two  of  the  most  re- 
spected and  prominent  financiers  of  the  move- 
ment— Drs.  Nettlau  and  Macdonald — as  spies 
in  the  pay  of  the  police.  In  this  connection  it 
is  only  fair  to  add  that  a  dozen  or  so  active  and 
well-known    Anarchists    have    replied    through 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    19 

Freedom  with  a  note  of  confidence  in  the  two 
gentlemen  named. 

At  the  trial  of  the  Walsall  Anarchists  for 
bomb  conspiracy,  it  transpired  that  one  of  the 
prominent  personages  in  the  affair  was  in  regular 
receipt  of  secret  service  money.  Chief-Inspector 
Melville,  then  head  of  the  political  branch  of 
the  Criminal  Investigation  Department,  charged 
solely  with  the  care  of  Anarchists  and  Fenians, 
confessed  at  the  Walsall  trial  to  having  "  paid 
lots  of  Anarchists  money."  And  these  people 
who  sell  their  own  comrades,  are  the  people 
who  prate  of  regenerating  the  world !     Pah  ! 

Here  is  a  further  instance:  I  know  of  a 
spy  who  himself  confessed  to  having  been  in 
the  pay  of  both  the  English  and  French  police. 
He  arrived  in  this  country  from  France,  appar- 
ently in  great  poverty,  and  his  dire  want  was  an 
excuse  for  accepting  food  from  one  "  comrade," 
lodging  from  another,  and  anything  he  could 
got  from  others.  His  professions  of  sympathy 
with  the  Anarchist  propaganda  were  hearty,  and 
the  Anarchists  trusted  and  believed  him  so  far 
as  to  allow  him  to  attend  the  secret  meetings 
of  the  "  French  Group."  In  consequenl;e  of  this 
he  was  able  to  give  information  to  both  the 
French  and  English  police.     The  plans  of  the 


20    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

"  comrades  "  having  been  foiled  on  one  or  two 
occasions  it  was  rumoured  that  a  traitor  existed 
in  the  camp.  Shortly  after  this  a  "  comrade  " 
was  deputed  to  go  to  France  by  the  "group" 
on  secret  business,  and  the  spy  asked  to  be  allowed 
to  go  with  him.  This  was  agreed  to.  At  Dieppe 
the  "  comrade  "  was  arrested,  the  police  having 
been  accurately  informed  as  to  the  time  of  his 
arrival  on  French  soil.  The  spy  returned  to 
England,  and  explained  his  return  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  not  allowed  to  remain  in  France. 
The  "  comrades "  in  London  called  a  special 
meeting  of  the  "  groups,"  at  which  the  spy  was 
purposely  permitted  to  attend.  He  was  directly 
charged  with  being  the  spy,  and  with  having 
supplied  the  French  and  English  police  with 
information  as  to  the  movements  of  the  Anarchists 
in  London.  He  vehemently  protested  his  inno- 
cence. He  was  gagged  and  his  pockets  searched. 
Letters  were  found  from  the  French  police,  instruct- 
ing him  to  watch  and  report  on  the  doings  of 
certain  French  Anarchists  then  in  London.  The 
spy  afterwards  made  a  full  confession  of  his 
connection  with  the  French  police,  and  also  of 
his  connection  with  the  authorities  at  Scotland 
Yard.  He  was  shamefully  ill-treated,  but  escaped 
and  fled  to  France,  where  he  is  now. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    21 

As  an  example  of  the  way  in  which  these 
police  agents  work  themselves  into  the  confidence 
of  the  Anarchist  leaders,  here  is  an  advertise- 
ment from  the  Commonweal  in  proof — 
"  International  Anarchist  School,  19,  Fitz- 
roy-square,  W.    Conducted  by  Louise  Michel 
and  A.  Coulon.    Free  education  in  English, 
French,  and  German.       Any  friend  taking 
an  interest  in  the  School  can  now  obtain  a 
portrait  group  of  teachers  and  scholars  on 
application    to    A.    Coulon,    Secretary,    at 
above  address." 
The   secretary   of   this   school   was   the   police 
informer  in  the  Walsall  case. 

At  one  time  there  existed  in  London  an  inter- 
national Anarchist  news  agency,  where  every 
kind  of  Anarchist  publication,  in  almost  any 
language,  could  be  procured.  A  *'  comrade " 
enjoying  the  confidence  of  the  party  was  placed 
in  charge,  and  the  shop  became  a  rendezvous 
for  almost  every  foreign  Anarchist  in  London. 
The  trusted  "  comrade "  was  a  police  spy ! 
He  had  been  instrumental  in  dragging  his  Anar- 
chist customers  into  the  great  police  net,  even 
going  to  the  lengths  of  procuring  photos  of  them 
for  the  monster  album  of  Scotland  Yard.  The 
truth    leaked    out    gradually.     One    night    the 


22    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

Anarchists  assembled  in  force  outside  the  shop, 
seeking  the  traitorous  "  comrade's  "  gore.  But, 
scenting  trouble,  and  like  a  sensible  person,  the 
"  comrade  "  had  a  few  hours  earlier  sought  out 
fresh  fields  and  pastures  new. 

During  my  connection  with  the  movement, 
several  spies  were  discovered  and  denounced.  I 
have  in  mind,  as  I  write,  the  case  of  an  Anarchist 
friend  of  mine — as  good-hearted  a  fellow  as  ever 
breathed — who,  but  for  my  timely  intervention, 
would  be  now  in  penal  servitude,  a  victim  to 
the  machinations  of  one  of  these  agents  pro- 
vocateurs. One  day  a  letter  came  to  the  place 
where  our  "  group "  met,  addressed  to  the 
"  Communists'  Committee."  It  was  a  long 
scrawl,  in  very  bad  English,  from  a  Frenchman 
who  signed  himself  in  three  different  names. 
On  the  Sunday  following.  Monsieur  came  to  our 
"  group "  meeting,  and  professed  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Walsall  Anarchists,  who 
had  just  then  been  sent  to  penal  servitude. 
One  of  our  English  "  comrades  "  somehow  took 
a  liking  to  this  fellow,  and  as  he  professed  to 
be  homeless  and  without  money,  gave  him 
shelter  and  food  for  some  months ;  even,  on  one 
occasion,  going  so  far  as  to  pawn  his  carpenter's 
tools  to  procure  him  food.     During  all  this  time. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    23 

the  Frenchman  was  endeavouring  to  persuade 
my  friend  to  commit  an  outrage  in  London.  At 
last  a  scheme  was  devised  for  the  blowing-up 
of  a  big  London  institution.  A  difficulty  now 
arose — my  friend  had  to  confess  his  ignorance 
regarding  the  making  of  explosives.  "  Zat  ve 
vill  soon  rectify,"  said  the  Frenchman.  One 
evening  I  called  on  my  English  friend  and  found 
Monsieur  had  been  out  all  day.  "  He  has 
written  a  letter  in  French  for  me  to  send  to 
Paris,"  I  was  informed.  Having  my  suspicions 
as  to  the  man's  genuineness,  and  being  acquainted 
slightly  with  the  French  language,  I  was  allowed 
to  examine  the  letter.  It  was  addressed  to 
M.  Jean  Grave — a  well-known  French  Anarchist 
— at  140,  Rue  Mouffetard,  Paris — and  asked  for  a 
copy  of  "  Le  Anarchiste  Indicateur,"  a  manual 
of  instructions  for  the  making  of  every  kind  of 
bomb  known,  to  be  sent  to  my  friend's  address, 
"as  he  intends  making  an  act  of  propaganda 
for  the  Cause  "  in  London.  Instead  of  sending 
the  letter,  I  consigned  it  to  the  flames,  and  the 
plot  was  abandoned.  Strange  to  say,  the  French- 
man never  returned  to  my  friend's  house  again, 
but,  in  his  place,  appeared  two  detectives  who, 
for  some  weeks,  day  and  night,  watched  the 
premises,    and    shadowed    my    friend    wherever 


24    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

he  went.  These  facts  aroused  our  suspicions. 
I  heard  nothing  further  until  some  months  later 
when,  the  matter  having  blown  over,  a  repre- 
sentative of  Scotland  Yard  told  me  that,  after 
writing  the  letter,  and  feeling  confident  that  it 
would  be  sent,  Monsieur  had  communicated 
with  the  French  police,  who,  in  their  turn,  had 
informed  the  authorities  at  Scotland  Yard, 
with  the  result  above  mentioned.  If  that  letter 
had  been  sent,  my  friend  would  be  now  in  penal 
servitude  for  being  in  the  possession  of  illegal 
publications. 

In  France,  spying  is  done  on  a  grand  scale. 
M.  Andrieux,  in  his  "Memoirs  of  a  Prefect  of 
Police,"   gives  the  following  instance  : — 

"  The  companions  were  looking  for  someone  to 
advance  funds,  but  '  infamous  capital '  did  not 
seem  in  a  hurry  to  reply  to  their  appeal.  I  urged 
on  *  infamous  capital '  and  succeeded  in  persuading 
it  that  it  was  to  its  own  interests  to  facilitate 
the  pubHcation  of  an  Anarchist  paper.  .  . 
But  don't  imagine  that  I  with  frank  brutality 
offered  the  Anarchists  the  encouragement  of 
the  Prefect  of  Police.  I  sent  a  well-dressed 
bourgeois  to  one  of  the  most  active  and  intelligent 
of  them.  He  explained  that  having  made  a 
fortune  in  the  druggist  line,  he  wanted  to  devote 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    25 

a  part  of  his  income  to  advancing  the  Anarchist 
propaganda.  This  bourgeois,  anxious  to  be  de- 
voured, inspired  the  companions  with  no  suspicion. 
Through  his  hands  I  placed  the  caution-money  '* 
(caution-money  has  to  be  deposited  before 
starting  a  paper  in  France)  "  in  the  coffers  of 
the  State,  and  the  journaf.  La  Revolution  Sociale, 
made  its  appearance.  It  was  a  weekly  paper, 
my  druggist's  generosity  not  extending  to  the 
expenses  of  a  daily." 


IV. 

ANARCHIST  "  LITERATURE.'* 

The  literature  of  Anarchism  is  interesting  only 
in  so  far  as  it  denotes  the  peculiar  mental  char- 
acteristics of  its  devotees.  Couched  in  an  exalted 
strain,  its  sickening  grossness  and  sentimentalism 
leave  little  or  no  impression  on  the  mind  of  the 
thinking  social  student  (unless  it  be  that  of 
disgust).  Strictly  speaking,  there  are  two  classes 
of  Anarchist  literature.  The  one — the  idealist — 
voices  the  sentiments  of  the  "  perfect  beings  " 
I  have  before  enumerated,  but  who  in  reality 
are  not  Anarchists  at  all ;  the  other  is  the  advo- 
cate of  that  pessimistic  and  criminal  Anarchism 
which  sees  no  good  in  any  institution  extant,  nor 
hope  for  the  future,  and  consequently  seeks  to 
destroy.  My  object,  however,  is  not  so  much 
I  to  criticise  the  literature  of  Anarchism,  as  to 
expose  the  canting  professions  of  these  humbugs 
who  pose  as  the  "  real  and  only  friends  of  labour.'* 
For  whilst  there  are  none  so  loud  as  Anarchists 
in    denouncing    sweating    and    lauding    trade- 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    27 

unionism,  yet,  strange  to  say  (or,  is  it  strange  ?) 
the  difference  between  precept  and  practice  is 
alarmingly  conspicuous.  The  Anarchists  have 
reduced  sweating  to  a  fine  art ! 

The  "  society  "  rate  for  compositors'  work  is 
38s.  per  week.  But  the  "  labour-emancipating  " 
Commonweal  paid  its  compositor  the  extravagant 
remuneration  of  los.  per  week  !  Liberty ^  at  the 
outset  of  its  career,  was  produced  by  boy  labour, 
but  later  was  brought  out  entirely  on  the  volun- 
tary principle.  The  Alarm  paid  for  composing 
15s.  per  week — sometimes  ;  at  others,  the  paper 
was  brought  out  by  exploiting  the  labour  of 
poor  wretches  out  of  employment,  who,  to  this 
day,  have  never  received  payment.  These  papers 
have  now  ceased  publication.  Freedom,  the 
only  one  remaining,  was  for  many  years  a  trade 
union  production,  but  in  1897,  it  paid  the  princely 
salary  of  los.  per  week  for  "  comping,"  and 
was  "  machined  "  by  boy  and  non-union  labour 
at  prices  which  make  the  sweater's  wage  pall 
in   comparison. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  names  of  prominent 
Anarchists  connected  with  these  ventures.  Prince 
Kropotkin  is  a  member  of  the  "  group  "  which 
publishes  Freedom.  But,  in  answer  to  a  letter 
of  mine,   the   Prince  assures  me  that  he  was 


28    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

altogether  unaware  of  the  sweating  conditions 
under  which  it  was  produced.  (This  is  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  the  Prince  lives  at  Bromley, 
in  Kent,  and  the  "  group  "  holds  its  meetings 
at  Camden  Town.)  Other  members  of  the 
"  group  "  are  Prince  Tcherkesov,  Errico  Mala- 
testa,  A.  Marsh,  Mrs.  C.  M.  Wilson,  and  other 
middle-class  men   and  women. 

The  history  of  the  Anarchist  movement  in 
England  is  strewn  with  the  corpses  of  dead 
journals ;  and  among  them  may  be  mentioned 
the  following : — The  Commonweal,  which  de- 
scribed itself  as  a  "revolutionary  journal  of 
Anarchist-Communism,"  was  first  suspended  at 
the  time  its  editor  was  arrested  and  sentenced 
to  serve  a  term  of  eighteen  months'  imprisonment 
for  an  article  inciting  to  the  murder  of  Mr. 
Justice  Hawkins,  and  Home  Secretary  Matthews, 
in  1892.  Two  years  later  the  compositor  who 
set  up  the  paper  was  arrested  for  a  speech  which 
he  .had  made  on  Tower  Hill,  and  sentenced  to 
the  smaU  term  (on  account  of  his  lack  of  influence 
in  the  inciting  direction)  of  six  months'  imprison- 
ment with,  hard  labour  for  advising  the  assassina- 
tion of  Royalty  on  the  occasion  of  the  opening  of 
the  Tower  Bridge.  That  seemed  to  be  the 
death-blow  .to  the  Commonweal^  for  it  was  not 


;  SPLENDID  niOTO, 

•-Of  DAN.  CHATTERTON. 

■;•■       ATRZIST.  a:I  CDMMUNiST. 

Caiiiet  £i3e,  1,  s. 
The  Surplus  ProUta  of  licturo  to  Fay 
[        O'aatt-jrtan^  CroauMoa  Fund. 

:  Ono    Vounj, 

'      BIOGILIPIIY 

'    Of  DAN.  CHATTEETOH. 
ATHEIST,  and  COMMUNIST. 


By 


CHAT. 


[PAELMENTAHY 
PLUNDER! 

;  the 

tjft.bfc.lition  of  Lords  &  Commons 
;/.  PIiSA  for  BEVOLimON. 
J       By    Dan    Chattertoii. 


P0PUL.4R  PARSI 


Priestly    Plundarors 

Of  LABORS    WEALTH. 

r 

t  ■  a  open  lottor 

To  Hoary  Carey  ShuttiewortX"' 

Eojbr  of  St  Nicliolos  Cole  Abboy.l 

By    Chat. 

Henry.  Crrof.  Sbiiuttlo worth,  i 

Cloven  years  ag-o,  I.  challen-' 
g-ed  you  to  debate,  with  mo  the 
Esdj^siico  of  God.  You  assert- 
th©  subject  is  not  iu  your  lice^ 
but  you  would  think  it  c-y^rtv,^ 
"Why  Sir.  "True  or  Falsn,  tho 
aot^aaiity  of  thia  <,  so  called.- 
Go'l. ;  l3  the  corner  sto-^.-)  of 
your  Church,  The  only  Pioa, 
for  fv  hiay  uaelejii  Pricstliood. 
Lalor  on,  You  -  are  not  euro 
a  public  debate  on  such  n. 
subject  Is  a  good  thintj.  'x\L 
Priest,  Well  may  .y^^^  dot-.'-i  - 
ceitg  able  to  chang-o  inj  vio  v^i 
or  ihat  L  sh^v^ll  chans:;:e  youi ..?, 
Tni.r,  you  can  ask  me  ali 
manner  of  questions,  which. 
admit  of  no  satisfactory  an  - 
Ewcr,  'YZhr^tapltifuIl  alij.is- 
sion,  '"Wtat,  No  Hnti.s"<t.cv^;".- 
Pro Jf  for  Go:i.  ?■  The  bj.'iclrs^- 
backless  tiinir,  Fnr.bl'j  c 
^tl;  tiiTe  aid  of  r.   :\ 


An  Anarchist  Print. 
Note  the  Spelling  and  Punctuation  Marks. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    29 

found  possible  to  continue  its  publication  after- 
wards. 

The  New  Order  was  the  organ  of  the  "  Christian 
Anarchists,"    and   was   opposed   to   violence   of 
every    description — even    going    so    far    as    to  i 
approve    the   non-resistance    theories    of    Count  [ 
Tolstoi. 

The  Anarchist  was  published  in  1886,  and  was 
the  first  Anarchist  paper  ever  published  in' 
England.  U Internationale  was  noted  for  the 
violence  of  its  language  and  its  open  advocacy 
of  the  dagger  and  bomb.  The  Anarchist  Labour 
Leaf  was  an  eight-page  pamphlet  issued  monthly 
by  the  East  End  Anarchists,  and  distributed 
by  them  on  Sundays  round  the  various  meetings 
which  are  held  in  Victoria  Park.  Liberty  was 
edited  by  James  Tochatti,  a  Hammersmith 
tailor,  and  was  opposed  to  the  policy  of  indis- 
criminate outrage.  For  this  reason  it  was  little 
supported  by  the  Anarchists,  and  soon  gave  up 
the  ghost.  It  was  the  best  among  the  many 
Anarchist  papers.  Of  the  many  others  there 
was  the  Alarm,  which,  notwithstanding  its 
stirring  title,  did  not  strike  often ;  the  Herald 
of  Anarchy,  a  "  journal  of  consistent  individu- 
alism ;  "  the  Worker's  Friend,  a  Yiddish  publi- 
cation ;    the    Walsall   Anarchist ;    the   Sheffield 


30    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

Anarchist,  which  was  inscribed  "  Pay  what  you 
like ;  "  Der  Lumpen  Proletaire,  a  German  pro- 
duction, a  writer  for  which  is  still  "  wanted  " 
by  the  police  on  suspicion  of  murdering  a  woman 
in  Shaftesbury  Avenue  some  years  back ;  the 
Torch  of  Anarchy  ;  Die  Autonomic  which,  during 
the  German  anti-socialist  laws,  was  smuggled 
into  Germany  by  all  manner  of  curious  means ; 
and  Die  Freiheit,  whose  editor,  the  notorious 
Johann  Most,  underwent  sixteen  months'  im- 
prisonment for  an  article  applauding  the  assassina- 
tion of  the  Czar  in  1881. 

As  a  sample  of  the  unscrupulous  lengths 
to  which  some  Anarchists  will  go,  I  may 
mention  that  in  1889  a  tract  of  George 
Bernard  Shaw's,  entitled  "  Anarchism  v.  State- 
Socialism,"  appeared  in  defence  of  Anarchism. 
Soon  after,  Mr.  Shaw  saw  fit  to  discard 
Anarchism  as  unreasonable,  and  wrote  a 
masterly  pamphlet  on  its  "Impossibilities" 
(Fabian  Society).  Yet,  in  1896,  the  "Asso- 
ciated Anarchists"  actually  reprinted  the  first- 
mentioned  tract,  and  spread  it  broadcast 
as  if  it  were  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Shaw  at 
the  time.  Similar  dishonesty  was  shown  by 
the  Anarchists  actually  at  the  open  grave  of 
William    Morris,    by   resuscitating    opinions    he 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    31 

had    long   since    repudiated.     Such    dishonesty 
Anarchists  seem  to  glory  in. 


V. 

THE  "  GROUPS." 

Anarchists  associate  in  "  groups."  These,  for 
obvious  reasons/  seldom  muster  more  than  a 
dozen  members  each.  Whilst  the  Anarchist 
creed — the  elimination  of  ^  authority  in  all  its 
forms — admits  of  no  kind  of  organisation  what- 
ever, still  it  must  be  admitted,  in  justice  to  a 
section  of  the  party,  that  some  of  them  profess 
to  believe  in  a  form  of  "  voluntary  co-operation," 
as  distinct  from  the  "  coercive  "  institutions  of 
government.  I  say  "  profess  to  believe "  ad- 
visedly, for  I  have  never  yet  found  the  practices 
of  Anarchists  square  with  their  professions. 
In  vain  do  we  look  in  the  Anarchist  party  for 
a  sample  of  organisation.  There  is  none.  At- 
tempts at  organisation  among  them  have  been 
frequent,  but  all  have  ended  in  ignominious 
failure.  The  fact  is,  the  Anarchists  are  incapable 
of  organisation,  and,  far  from  being  fit  for  a 
"  society  without  government "  (could  such 
an  anomaly  maintain  itself  a  day),  they  have 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.     33 

shown  themselves  incapable  of  managing  a 
decent-sized  apple  stall.  The  manifesto  of  the 
"  Associated  Anarchists  "  bears  out  what  I  say. 
"  We  have  been  present,"   say  the    issuers  of 


THE  ASSOCIATED  ANARCHISTS, 

"ANARCHY   IS   OilDER," 

GROUP    No.   1. 


this  manifesto,  "  at  many  of  the  meetings  of 
our  Anarchist  comrades,  where  discussions 
of  important  matters  were  to  be  conducted, 
and  where  it  was  hoped  that  some,  mutual  and 
collective  agreement  would  be  come  to  as  to  an 
expression  of  opinion  and  as  to  action.  In 
every  case,  however,  where  perfect  unanimity 
was  not  hit  upon,  as  it  were,  by  accident,  it 
was  found  impossible  to  decide  anything  in  the 
shape  of  a  general  opinion  of  the  meeting,  or 
with  regard  to  what'  action  should  be  taken 
by  them  in  all  these  particular  and  important 
affairs.  Instead  of  this,  violent  altercations 
have  arisen  ;  the  utmost  disorder  has  prevailed, 
and  the  whole  of  the  meetings,  from  the  stand- 
point of  organisation,  have  been  absurd  farces 
and  ridiculous  frauds." 

C 


i 


34    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

J  At  Anarchist  conferences  it  is  amusing  to 
(observe  the  shifts  to  which  the  "companions" 
are  put,  to  obviate  the  inconvenience  arising 
from  this  lack  of  system.  At  these  so-called 
conferences  and  congresses  there  is  no  chairman 
(he  being  a  "  relic  of  authority "),  and  it  is 
always  left  to  "  individual  initiative "  to  start 
the  discussion  on  matters  concerning  the  "  propa- 
ganda." The  consequence  is  that  order  is 
conspicuous  by  its  absence.  Anyone  can  roll 
off  a  speech  when  he  likes,  where  he  likes,  for 
as  long  as  he  likes,  and  on  any  subject  he  likes. 
No  vote  is  taken  of  the  feeling  of  the  "  comrades  " 
present — who,  by  a  convenient  fiction,  are 
supposed  to  be  delegates  of  the  various  "  groups  '* 
— consequently  no  action  is  taken,  and  the 
so-called  conference  resolves  into  a  mere  talking 
shop.  So  loosely  are  the  party  affairs  carried 
on  that  anyone  can  gain  admittance  to  a  "  group," 
and  anyone  can  enter  their  congresses  even 
without  being  a  member  of  a  group.  No  cre- 
dentials are  asked  for,  and  it  is  not  an  extra- 
ordinary occurrence  to  see  one  or  two  detectives 
sitting  among  the  "  comrades." 

The  names  of  some  of  the  "  groups "  are 
interesting,  inasmuch  as  they  indicate  the 
thoughts    uppermost    in    the   Anarchist    mind : 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    35 

the  Torch,  Alarm,  Rebel,  Necessity,  Ni  Dieu,  ni 
Maitre  (no  God,  no  master),  Firebrand,  Liberty, 
Revenge,  Free  Initiative,  British  Nihilists,  etc. 
The  last-named  "  group "  loudly  prated  their 
belief  in  the  "  propaganda  of  action."  They 
talked  of  naught  save  dynamite  and  daggers. 
They  were  the  party's  dare-devils.  (And  if 
daring  consists  in  breathing  fire  and  slaughter 
all  the  twenty-four  hours  of  the  day,  then  the 
Anarchists  are  the  pluckiest  folk  I  know  of.) 
One  of  the  British  Nihilists  managed  to  muster 
up  sufficient  courage  to  perform  the  revolu- 
tionary act  of  firing  a  revolver  at  the  House  of 
Commons,  doubtless  expecting  to  see  it  collapse, 
like  the  walls  of  Jericho  at  the  trumpet's  blast. 
As  a  result  of  the  Deptford  Group's  propaganda, 
Rolla  Richards  blew  up  three  post-offices  in 
South  London  with  pennyworths  of  gunpowder, 
"  in  memory  of  Ravachol,  Santo,  Bourdin, 
Polti,"  and  others. 

The  "  Associated  Anarchists  "  were  not  long 
in  becoming  dissociated.  They  were  a  body  of 
about  a  dozen  youths  who  had  become  disgusted 
with  orthodox  Anarchist  "  organisation."  They 
decided  on  reform,  and  accordingly  drew  up  a 
code  of  "  non-compulsory  agreements."  Members 
on    joining    agreed    beforehand    to    voluntarily 


36    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

abide  by  the  decision  of  the  majority  (the  con- 
trary of  Anarchist  principles),  but  still  were  free 
not  to  so  abide.  They  printed  and  published  the 
Alarm  (an  alarming  little  sheet  printed  in  gor- 
geous blue,  like  an  oilman's  circular).  Dissensions 
soon  arose  among  the  associates  as  to  the  manage- 
ment of  this  property.  A  minority  of  two,  in 
the  exercise  of  their  "  individual  liberty,"  claimed 
the  lot  to  do  as  they  liked  with,  and  shut  the 
door  in  the  face  of  the  other  "  brothers,"  who, 
in  their  turn,  "  burgled  "  the  premises  at  dead 
of  night.  Then  the  minority  called  in  the 
police  (by  no  means  strange  for  Anarchists). 
However,  a  reunion  took  place  between  the 
opposing  factions,  and  everything  went  as 
merrily  as  a  marriage  bell,  until,  one  fine  day, 
the  majority  found  that  this  time  the  minority 
had  sold  up  all  the  happy  home  and  pocketed 
the  proceeds !  And  now,  dear  reader  (as  they 
say  in  tracts),  just  picture  in  your  mind  the 
beauty   of  Anarchy  adopted  nationally ! 

Some  of  the  groups,  for  obvious  reasons,  adopt 
a  disguise  of  respectability  !  Thus,  the  "  South 
London  Progressive  Association,"  which  met  at 
one  of  the  coffee-houses  in  the  Old  Kent  Road, 
was  a  group  of  Anarchists.  So  also  was  the 
"  North    London    Progressive    Association "    of 


Mateo  Morale 
And  his  flower-bedecked  bomb. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    37 

Kentish  Town.  The  Jewish  Anarchist  Club  in 
Berner  Street,  E.,  was  known  as  the  "  Inter- 
national Workpeople's  Educational  Society,"  and 
was  composed  of  the  lowest  class  of  Russian 
and  Polish  Jews.  The  "  Deptford  Educational 
Society,"  which  met  above  a  shop  in  New  Cross 
Road,  was  a  group  of  English  Anarchists,  who 
dissolved  soon  after  the  conviction  of  Rolla 
Richards  for  blowing  up  post-oiBces  in  the 
neighbourhood.  Another  Anarchist  club  was 
the  Scandinavian  Club  in  Rathbone  Place. 
The  Commonweal  Group  met  in  a  mews  off 
Gray's  Inn  Road.  Its  members  were  believers 
in  the  "  propaganda  of  deed,"  and  were  often 
in  the  hands  of  the  police. 

The  old  Autonomic  Club,  in  Windmill  Street, 
Tottenham  Court  Road,  was  the  home  of  a 
number  of  groups  :  the  French,  German,  ,  and 
Italian  groups ;  the  "  Knights  of  Liberty  "  and 
the  "  Young  Anarchists  " — a  group  of  mere  boys 
who  actually  conducted  classes  for  the  study  of 
explosive  chemicals.  - 

Some  of  the  so-called  groups  comprise  only 
one  or  two  individuals.  For  instance,  Freedom 
speaks  of  the  "  Somer's  Town  Group  "  as  being 
very  active.  This  formidable  revolutionary 
organisation    comprised    three    individuals — one 


38    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

of  whom,  in  true  Anarchist  fashion,  appointed 
himself  secretary,  treasurer,  librarian,  and  every- 
thing else.  The  two  men  who  composed  the 
Torch  group  after  its  founders,  the  Misses  Rossetti, 
had  left  the  movement,  appointed  themselves 
delegates  to  one  of  the  May  Day  Celebration 
Committees,  wrote  out  their  own  credentials, 
and  sat  and  voted  on  every  proposal  brought 
forward.  This  "  group "  was  the  loudest  in 
shrieking  for  the  admission  of  Anarchists  to 
the  International  Socialist  and  Labour  Congress 
held  in  London  in  1896,  and  was  the  originator 
of  the  agitation  having  that  object  in  view.  The 
cool  and  impudent  demand  of  these  self-elected 
and  unrepresentative  nonentities  to  sit  and 
vote  side  by  side  with  bond  fide  trade-union 
delegates  representing  thousands  of  members, 
is  only  equalled  by  its  astounding  hypocrisy, 
for  Anarchists  profess  not  to  believe  in  democracy, 
voting,  or  representation,  an^  consequently  have 
no  place  in  any  organisation  based  on  democratic 
principles. 

The  English  Anarchists  (who,  by  the  way,  are 
looked  upon  by  their  foreign  and  practical 
brethren  more  with  contempt  than  "  fraternity  ") 
are  to-day  a  mere  handful,  and  the  "  party " 
is  becoming  smaller  and  beautifully  less  owing 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    39 

to  the  numerous  secessions  of  the  more  intelli- 
gent, who,  in  course  of  time,  become  disgusted 
with  the  lack  of  system,  want  of  order,  and 
contempt    for   moral    conduct   which    pervades 


the  practical  section  of  the  party.  I  doubt  if 
there  are  fifty  Englishmen  in  London  of  the 
Anarchist  persuasion.  The  strength  of  the  entire 
movement  may  be  judged  by  the  fact  that  their 
oldest  established,  and  now  only  existent  organ 
in  the  Press — Freedom — has  a  paltry  circulation 
of  about  500  copies  monthly  throughout  the 
entire  country. 

Very  few  of  these  "  groups  "  exist  otherwise 
than  in  name.  By  this  I  mean  that  few  are  con- 
ducted on  genuine  business-like  principles,  such 
as  the  periodic  appointment  of  officers,  the 
holding  of  weekly  or  fortnightly  members' 
meetings,  the  issuing  of  balance-sheets,  and 
so  on. 


VI. 
BOMB-MAKING. 

Let  no  one  think  that  all  London  Anarchists 
are  mere  talkers  who  have  not  the  courage  of 
their  convictions.  It  is  a  fact  that  many  of  the 
outrages  which  have  taken  place  on  the  Continent 
were  arranged  beforehand  here  in  London, 
within  the  four  walls  of  the  Club  Autonomic. 
In  the  month  of  November,  1891,  the  following 
advice  was  given  to  the  "  companions  "  by  a 
London  Anarchist  newspaper :  "  A  knowledge 
of  chemistry  is  very  useful,  and  all  young  men 
should  join  a  chemistry  class  at  once.  There  is 
no  need  to  proclaim  the  fact  that  you  are  an 
Anarchist,  but  study  diligently  and  quietly  till 
you  have  mastered  all  the  secrets  of  modern 
explosives."  And  it  concluded  by  suggesting 
that  a  result  of  such  a  knowledge  might  be  that 
the  rich  and  the  rulers  of  the  country  would  be 
"  swiftly   translated   to   Paradise." 

This  advice  was  acted  on  largely  by  the  "  com- 
rades "  in  London,  and  classes  for  the  study  of 


MURDER I 


Workmen,  why  allow  yourselves,  your  wives, 
and  children,  to  be  daily  murdered  by  the  foul- 
ness of  the  dens  in  which  you  are  forced  to  live  ? 

The  average  age  of  the  working  classes  is  some 
29  years,  and  the  average  age  of  the  rich  55 
years. 

It  is  time  the  slow  murder  of  the  poor,  who 
are  poisoned  by  thousands  in  the  foul,  unhealthy 
slums,  from  which  robber  landlords  exact  mons- 
trous rents,  was  stopped. 

You  have  paid  in  rent  the  value  over  and  over 
again  of  the  rotten  dens  in  which  you  are  forced 
to  dwell.  Government  has  failed  to  help  you. 
The  time  has  come  to  help  yourselves. 

PAY    NO    RENT 
to  land-thieves  and  house-farmers,  who  flourish 
and  grow  fat   on  your  misery,   starvation,   and 
degradation.  

A  MASS    MEETING 

WILL   BE    HELD    IN 

VICTORIA  PARK 

(Near  the  Band  Stand) 
On  Sunday,  July  26th,  at  3  p.m., 

When   the  following  Speakers    will  address   the 

meeting  in  support  of  a  No  Rent  Campaign  : — 

D.  J.  NieoU,  W.  B,  Parker,  S,  Mainwaring,  C.  W. 

Mowbray,  J.  Turner,  R.  Jane,  and  E.  Hall. 


Hurrah  1  for  the  kettle,  the  club,  and  the  poker, 
Good  medicine  always,  for  landlord  and  broker ; 
Surely  'tis  best  to  find  yourselves  clobber, 
Before  paying  rent  to  a  rascally  robber. 


An  Anarchist  Handbill. 


42    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

chemistry  were  instituted  in  various  parts. 
Some  Anarchists  even  joined  the  chemistry 
classes  established  by  the  various  institutions 
in  and  around  London.  Following  on  this  came 
the  publication  of  a  series  of  dynamite  manuals. 
Johann  Most  (who,  it  may  be  remembered,  was 
in  1881  sent  to  prison  here  in  London  for  a 
violent  article  in  Die  Freiheit  applauding  the 
assassination  of  the  Czar,  Alexander  11.)  wrote 
a  bomb-manual  entitled  "  Revolutionary  War 
Science."  This  was  published  by  the  German 
Anarchists  of  London  in  their  native  tongue, 
and  circulated  largely  in  and  around  the  German 
colony  in  West  London.  The  book  was  after- 
wards translated  into  English  and  published 
in  America,  whence  large  quantities  were  im- 
ported into  this  country  and  distributed  among 
the  English-speaking  "  comrades."  In  this  book 
Johann  Most  explains  exactly  where  bombs  should 
be  placed  in  churches,  palaces,  ball-rooms,  and  fes- 
tive gatherings.  Never  more  than  one  Anarchist  is 
to  take  charge  of  any  attempt,  so  that  in  case  of 
discovery  the  Anarchist  party  may  suffer  as  little 
harm  as  possible.  The  book  contains  also  a  com- 
plete dictionary  of  poisons,  and  preference  is  given 
to  poison  from  dead  bodies.  Poison  is  advocated 
for  use  against  politicians,  traitors  and  spies. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    43 

Among    the    French    Anarchists    in    London, 
"  Le  Anarchiste  Indicateur  "  was  the  Bible  of 


the  bombists.  This  work,  it  is  said,  was  written 
by  an  ex-member  of  the  French  Detective 
Service.  Another  dynamite  manual  was  entitled, 
"  Advice  and  Warning  to  the  Commercial  Classes,'* 
by  "Father  Gavroche," — the  nom  de  guerre  of 
a     certain     Irish-American     revolutionist — and 


44    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

contained  instructions  for  the  making  of  everyi 

of  bomb  known,  as  well  as  for  the  mixing  ' 

composition    known    as   Greek    Fire,    which 

advocated  as  useful  for  throwing  over  police 

and  setting  them  afire.    These  publications 

plained  the  use  and  manufacture  of  all   1^ 

of   explosives — gun-cotton,    dynamite,    robi" 

woodite,  fulminate  of  mercury,  picrate  of  poi 

besides  endless  explosive  mixtures,  of  whi( 

common  one  was  chlorate  of  potash  and  si 

This  latter  would  be  mixed  in  about  equal  p 

and   a    small   glass    tube    containing   sulpl 

acid    inserted.     When    the   bomb    was   thri 

the  tube  would  break  and  an  explosion  resu 

A  curious  advertisement  once  appeared  in 

Commonweal.    It  was  as  follows : — 

"  Special  Notice  to  Emancipator  Gr( 

in  Scotland  and  England.      The  '  Em^^ 

PATOR '  (the  new  holey  Bible)  will  sh< 

be  published." 

This  "  holey  Bible  "  was  in  reality  a  ma 

of  instructions  for  the  making  of  every  kin 

explosive  known,  and  was  partly  set  up  in 

when  the  police  raided  the  ofiices  of  the  Corn', 

weal.    But  our  smart  police  were  certainly 

witted  by  the  Anarchist  compositor  in  ch 

of  the  place.    The  type,  for  safety,  had 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    45 

placed  near  the  ceiling,  on  top  of  a  number  of 
shelves.  Having,  as  they  thought,  ransacked 
every  nook  and  cranny  in  the  place,  the  police 
officers  were  about  to  depart  without  having 
giving  this  place  a  thought.  One  of  them,  how- 
ever, on  reaching  the  door,  noticed  the  omission, 
and  carelessly  asked  the  **  comp  "  to  bring  down 
the  contents.  Placing  a  small  pair  of  steps 
against  the  shelves  in  such  a  way  as  to  render 
them  totally  unsafe  to  stand  upon,  the  wily 
"  comp  "  rushed  up  them,  and,  to  make  believe 
of  saving  himself  from  falling,  purposely  clutched 
hold  of  the  type,  dragged  it  to  the  floor  with 
him  and  "  pied  "  the  lot ;  or,  in  plain  English, 
broke  it  completely  up.  And  the  police  lost  a 
"find.'' 

The  second  time  the  police  raided  the  Common- 
weal they  discovered  a  manuscript  of  explosive 
recipes  hidden  behind  a  loose  brick  in  the 
wall.  This  formed  part  of  the  indictment  of 
the  compositor  who  was  convicted  at  the  Old 
Bailey  soon  afterwards  for  seditious  libel,  in- 
citement to  murder,  etc. 

In  August,  1891,  a  Revolutionary  Conference 
was  held  at  the  Jewish  Anarchist  Club,  in  Berner 
Street,  E.,  to  consider  the  advisability  of 
"action."     Representatives  of  Anarchism  from 


46    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

various  provincial  centres,  as  well  as  from  different 
parts  of  London,  attended.  The  Conference 
decided  that  a  number  of  bomb  outrages  should 
take  place  in  this  country  at  an  early  date. 
One  of  the  delegates  present  from  Walsall  hap- 
pened to  be  employed  in  an  iron  foundry  in 
that  place,  and,  it  being  thought  that  an  order 
from  an  employee  would  disarm  suspicion,  it 
was  agreed  that  he  should  get  his  firm  to  make 
a  number ^f  iron  castings  for  bombs.  Of  course, 
orders  were  not  given  for  bomb-shells,  but  for 
"  electrical  lubricators."  The  matter  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Commonweal  Group.  A  letter  was  sent  to 
Walsall  by  this  individual,  containing  a  sketch 
of  the  kind  of  bomb  required.  This  was  to  be 
a  large,  pear-shaped,  shell,  with  a  hole  at  the 
top  for  receiving  the  explosive  matter,  and 
three  holes  at  the  bottom  for  the  insertion  of 
detonators.  The  object  in  having  the  bombs 
pear-shaped  was  so  that,  when  thrown,  they  were 
bound  to  fall  on  the  detonators  and  thereby 
cause  an  explosion.  When  the  scheme  had 
thoroughly  matured,  the  bombs  being  safely 
stowed  away  in  the  cellar  of  the  Anarchist  Club 
in  Goodall  Street,  Walsall,  the  police,  who  had 
all  along  known  of  the  conspiracy,  pounced  down 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    47 

upon  the  conspirators  and  conveyed  them  to 
the  police  station.  It  turned  out  during  the 
trial  that  the  "  comrade  **  of  the  Commonweal 
Group  to  whom  we  had  entrusted  the  London 
management  of  the  whole  affair  was  a  police 
informer ! 

One  curious  fact  in  connection  with  these 
Anarchist  chemistry  classes  was  that  they  were 
made  up  almost  entirely  of  mere  boys.  One  of 
these  took  home  some  explosive  substance  given 
him  to  experiment  with,  but  the  stuff  was  found 
by  his  father,  who,  not  liking  the  look  of  it, 
buried  it  in  the  garden  in  his  son's  absence. 
Next  day  the  police  raided  the  house.  This 
incident  raised  the  "  comrades'  "  suspicions — 
there  was  evidently  a  spy  somewhere  in  the 
camp.  Following  on  this  came  a  number  of 
police  raids  on  the  Club  Autonomic,  and  many 
private  houses  in  London.  As  a  result  many  of 
the  schemes  the  Anarchists  had  decided  upon 
were  hastily  abandoned. 

W,  Mingling  with  the  Anarchists  I  have  been 
greatly  amused  at  the  numerous  brilliant  schemes 
of  revenge  proposed  by  the  breathers  of  fire  and 
slaughter — for,  after  all,  most  of  their  proposi- 
tions are  mere  talk  and  talk  only.  Conceited 
beyond  belief,  the  average  Anarchist  delights  in 


48    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST, 

impressing  the  "  outsider "  with  his  supposed 
bloodthirstiness  and  daring.  Most  Anarchists 
I  have  met  harbour  schemes  of  outrage  of  some 
kind  or  other,  but  are  prevented  from  carrying 
them  out  by  a  wholesome  dread  of  the  law. 
One  has  designs  on  the  King  or  the  Prime 
Minister  ;  another  proposes  to  blow  up  the  Stock 
Exchange  or  the  Bank  of  England ;  a  third, 
misanthropically  inclined,  hates  the  working- 
classes  more  bitterly  than  he  does  the  makers 
and  administrators  of  the  law,  who  are  his  natural 
enemies,  and  would,  if  he  could,  kill  them  by 
thousands.  Why  this  hatred  of  the  working- 
classes  it  is  easy  to  understand,  for  the  workers 
are  the  great  obstacle  between  the  Anarchist  and 
the  carrying-out  of  his  crazy  crotchets. 

An  original,  if  not  altogether  brilliant,  scheme, 
was  that  the  "  comrades "  should  invade  the 
galleries  of  the  large  theatres,  armed  with  bags 
of  lice,  which  were  to  be  emptied  on  the  occu- 
pants of  the  parts  below.  Another  scheme  was 
to  fumigate  with  sulphuretted  hydrogen  the 
carriages  waiting  for  their  rich  owners  outside 
the  opera  houses.  A  "  comrade  "  once  proposed 
to  me  a  scheme  whereby  we  were  to  cause  a 
number  of  explosions  in  one  night.  The  idea 
was    this :  Armed    with    strong    catapults    and 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    49 

several  small  bombs  made  of  thick  glass  (I  was 
shown  one),  and  filled  with  chemical  explosives, 
we  were  to  mount  an  omnibus  passing  through 
the  West  End,  and  fire  the  bombs,  by  means 
of  the  catapults,  through  the  windows  of  the 
mansions  as  we  passed.  Needless  to  say,  I  did 
not  fall  in  with  the  idea. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  things  captured 
by  the  police  as  a  result  of  their  raids  were  a 
number  of  secret  manifestoes.  One  of  these 
was  headed :  "  Death  to  the  Judges !  Death 
to  the  Jurors  !  "  and  concluded  with  the  signifi- 
cant words  :  "  Comrades,  you  shall  see  us  at 
work  !  "  Another  secret  document  captured  by 
the  police  was  an  English  translation  of  a  French 


MANIFESTO 

of  the  French 

ANARCHIST  SOLDIERS. 


Reproduction  of  Heading. 

document — "  The  Manifesto  of  the  French  Anar- 
chist Soldiers." 

D 


50    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

As  everyone  knows,  in  France  military  ser- 
vice is  compulsory,  even  Anarchists  having  to 
serve.  The  "  French  Anarchist  Soldiers "  con- 
clude their  manifesto  as  follows :  "  We  are 
the  revolted — the  judges !  We  will  be  the 
avengers !  When  they  give  us  orders  to  fire, 
we  will  turn  the  muzzles  of  our  firearms  upon 
the  dressed-up  scoundrels  who  command  us ! 
Hurrah  for  Anarchy !  " 

At  the  Revolutionary  Conference  before-men- 
tioned several  "  comrades  "  volunteered  to  join 
the  army,  with  the  object  of  "  permeating  it 
with  revolutionary  ideas."  Accordingly,  a  special 
manifesto — "  An  Address  to  the  Army  " — was 
published  and  circulated  largely  among  the 
soldiers.  Its  watchword  was  "  Revolt !  Revolt !  " 
and  the  soldiers  were  asked,  "  What  shaU  yours 
be  ?  Several  of  our  comrades  are  in  your  midst." 
It  continued  :  "  Will  you  answer  their  signal, 
or  obey  the  commands  of  your  officers  ?  Let 
us  hope  when  our  comrades  cry  *  Revolt,'  that 
your  answer  will  thunder  forth,  *  Revolt !  Revolt 
against  tyranny  and  robbery  !  Hurrah  for  An- 
archy and  the  Social  Revolution !  " 


VII. 
ANARCHISTS  AT  WORK. 

It  was  not  until  the  death  of  Bakounine,  in 
1876,  that  the  propaganda  of  action  can  be  said 
to  have  commenced  in  earnest.  At  the  re- 
volutionary conference  of  Berne,  held  this  very 
year,  was  proclaimed  the  era  of  violence  by 
Italian  extremists  who  had  attached  themselves 
to  the  Anarchist  doctrines  of  Bakounine.  "  The 
Italian  Federation,"  they  announced,  "  is  of 
opinion  that  open  rebellion,  resorted  to  with 
a  view  to  back  up  by  deeds  the  profession  of 
Anarchist  principles,  is  the  only  effective  method 
of  propagating  the  doctrine."  These  words  were 
soon  to  be  carried  into  effect.  In  April,  1877, 
an  Anarchist  revolutionary  attempt  took  place 
in  the  Italian  province  of  Benevento.  Malatesta, 
Cafiero,  and  Ceccarelli,  at  the  head  of  a  band 
of  revolutionaries,  burnt  the  archives  at  Letino 
and  San  Galo,  and  laying  hands  on  whatever 
arms  and  money  they  could  find,  distributed 
them  to  the  mob.    The  next  year,   1878,  was 


52    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

a  record  year  for  its  attempts  on  the  lives  of 
monarchs.  On  May  ii,  at  Berlin,  whilst  the 
Emperor  was  passing,  a  boy  of  nineteen,  Hoedel, 
fired  several  revolver  shots,  for  which  he  was 
afterwards  executed.  In  the  following  month 
a  second  attempt  was  made  by  a  Dr.  Nobiling, 
resulting  in  the  Emperor  being  wounded  in  seven 
places.  October  saw  an  attempt  on  the  life  of 
the  King  of  Spain  at  Madrid,  for  which  a  young 
Anarchist  named  Moncasi  was  exr.cuted.  On 
November  17,  at  Naples,  a  cook  of  twenty-nine 
years,  Passanate,  stabbed  the  King  of  Italy, 
but  the  wound  was  only  slight.  Early  in  the 
same  year  General  Trepoff,  the  Chief  of  Police 
at  St.  Petersburg,  was  assassinated  by  a  young 
woman  named  Vera  Zassulitch,  in  revenge  for 
his  alleged  ferocity  towards  a  Nihilist  named 
Bogolionboff,  for  which  she  was  afterwards, 
strange  to  say,  acquitted.  On  August  16,  at 
St.  Petersburg,  General  Metzenseff,  Chief  of  the 
Imperial  Police,  was  stabbed  to  death  by  two 
Nihilists,  who  escaped  by  using  their  revolvers. 

Next  year  saw  the  Chief  of  the  Odessa  Secret 
Police  murdered  also — this  time  by  strangulation. 
The  murderers  left  a  note  on  the  table  saying 
that  the  execution  was  carried  out  by  the 
Revolutionary    Committee.     Prince     Kropotkin 


[Exclusive  News  Agency. 

A  Russian  Revolutionist, 

Who  shot  herself  to  escape  arrest  for  complicity  in  a  plot  against 
the  Czar  in  1905. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    53 

established  this  year  at  Geneva  the  Anarchist 
paper,  Le  RevoUe.  Several  daring  attempts  were 
made  this  year  upon  the  life  of  the  Czar  of  Russia, 
Alexander  II.  On  April  14,  Solovieff  fired 
several  shots  without  hitting  him.  On  December 
I,  1879,  a  mine,  tunnelled  out  beneath  the 
railway  over  which  the  Czar  had  to  pass,  exploded 
at  the  passing  of  the  Imperial  train,  but  the 
Czar  had  fortunately  passed  by  another  train 
half  an  hour  earlier.  Another  attempt  was  made 
on  February  17,  1880.  This  time  the  Czar's 
dining-room  was  blown  up  with  dynamite ;  but 
again  the  Czar  providentially  escaped,  his  dinner 
having  been  put  off  to  a  later  hour.  However, 
fate  overtook  him  in  the  year  following.  A 
bomb  was  thrown  under  his  carriage  on  March  13, 
by  a  young  Nihilist  named  Ryssakoff,  but  missed  ; 
the  Czar  got  out  to  walk,  but  was  mortally 
wounded  by  a  second  bomb  thrown  by  another 
Nihilist  named  Grinevetsky,  who  died  the  next 
day  of  wounds  received  from  the  guard.  Six 
persons  in  all  were  executed  for  this,  one  of 
whom,  Sophie  Petrovskaya,  daughter  of  an 
ex-Governor  of  St.  Petersburg,  organised  the 
whole  series  of  plots.  This  last  was  a  determined 
attempt,  for  had  the  Czar  gone  another  way, 
a  loaded  mine  awaited  him.    The  bombs  were 


54    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

brought  from  a  house  occupied  by  Navorotsky 
and  Hess  Helfmann.  When  the  police  came  to 
arrest  them,  Navorotsky  fired  on  his  comrade, 
but  missed  him  in  the  darkness,  and  then  blew 
out  his  own  brains. 

On  December  30,  1880,  a  young  Anarchist 
named  Otero  fired  two  shots  at  the  King  and 
Queen  at  Madrid,  for  which,  on  April  17,  he  was 
executed.  In  March,  a  young  man,  Mlodetsky, 
who  fired  on  General  Melekoff,  was  hanged. 

On  May  27,  1882,  was  first  published  in  Italian, 
the  work  of  Stepniak  on  "  Underground  Russia." 
A  meeting  of  French  and  Swiss  Anarchists  at 
Geneva  proclaim  their  total  separation  from  the 
political  parties,  Socialist,  or  otherwise. 

In  1883,  sixty-six  Anarchists  were  sentenced 
at  Lyons  for  conspiracy,  including  the  famous 
and  undoubtedly  sincere  Prince  Kropotkin, 
who  is  now  living  in  England.  On  May  26, 
in  Spain,  the  trial  of  the  "  Mano  Negra  "  (black 
hand)  secret  society  of  Christian  Anarchists 
began.  Louise  Michel,  the  "  Red  Virgin "  of 
the  Commune,  was  this  year  condemned  to  six 
years'  imprisonment  for  plundering  bakers' 
shops,  after  an  unemployed  demonstration. 
Cyvoct,  condemned  to  death  for  having  in- 
cited the  riots  of  October  22  and  23  at  Lyons, 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    55 

was  afterwards  reprieved  and  sent  to  penal 
servitude. 

At  Leipzig,  on  January  18, 1885,  Reinsdorf  and 
two  other  Anarchists  were  condemned  to  death, 
and  two  others  to  penal  servitude,  for  causing 
explosions  in  the  Frankfort-on-Maine  police- 
barracks.  In  revenge  for  these  hangings,  a 
police  commissioner  named  Rumpf  was  stabbed 
in  front  of  his  own  house.  On  October  11, 
Kropotkin's  "  Words  of  a  Rebel  "  was  published 
in  French. 

In  1886,  the  French  Anarchist  Gallo  was 
sentenced  to  twenty  years'  penal  servitude  for 
attempted  murder.  At  a  meeting  of  Anarchists 
in  the  Haymarket,  Chicago,  a  bomb  thrown  kills 
eight  policemen.  For  this  four  German  Anar- 
chists— Parsons,  Spies,  Fischer,  and  Engel — were 
tried  on  a  charge  of  "  constructive  murder  "  and 
executed  in  the  year  following. 

Convicted  of  burglary  and  incendiarism, 
Clement  Duval,  a  French  Anarchist,  is  sent  to 
penal  servitude  for  life,  on  January  29,  1887. 

In  1888,  at  an  Anarchist  meeting  in  Havre, 
Louise  Michel  was  fired  at  by  a  fanatical  anti- 
anarchist  named  Lucas.  Although  dangerously 
wounded,  Louise  protected  Lucas  from  the 
fury  of  the  Anarchists,  and  afterwards  appeared 


56    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

as  a  witness  on  his  behalf  at  the  trial,  and  managed 
to  get  him  acquitted. 

Next  year,  1889,  another  French  Anarchist, 
Pini,  was  sentenced  for  forging  bank-notes.  The 
following  year  saw  the  assassination  of  General 
Seliverstoff,  formerly  Chief  of  the  Russian  Secret 
Police,  by  Stanislaus  Padlewski,  a  Pole,  who 
managed  to  escape  arrest  and  reach  America, 
where,  a  few  years  back,  he  committed  suicide. 

In  1892,  six  Anarchists  were  arrested  at 
Walsall  and  sentenced  to  terms  of  five  and  ten 
years  for  bomb-making.  This  was  the  first 
indication  of  the  existence  of  active  Anarchism 
in  England  by  British  subjects.  From  this  year 
occurred  a  perfect  epidemic  of  bomb-throwing. 
In  Paris,  several  explosions  occurred,  for  which 
the  Anarchist  Ravachol  was  arrested.  On  the 
eve  of  his  trial  the  Caf^  Very,  in  which  he  was 
recognised,  was  the  scene  of  an  explosion ;  and 
an  intimidated  jury  found  him  "guilty  with 
extenuating  circumstances."  He  was  sent  to 
penal  servitude  for  life,  but  was  tried  afterwards 
for  murdering  a  poor  old  hermit  and  executed. 
The  execution  of  the  "  Chicago  Martjnrs "  was 
"  avenged "  this  year,  on  October  29,  by  the 
assassination  of  the  Mayor  of  Chicago.  In 
January  the  peasantry  of  Xeres,  in  Spain,  incited 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    57 


.^^--^ 


by  the  Christian  Anarchists  of  the  "  Mano  Negra  " 
secret  society,  armed  themselves  and  attempted 
to  take  possession  of  that  town,  with  the  object 
of  pillage.  They  were  driven  back  by  the 
soldiery,  and  four  leaders,  the  Anarchists  Zar- 
zuella,  Lamela,  Bisiqui,  and  Lebrijano,  taken 
prisoners,  and  afterwards  put  to  death.  This 
was  followed  by  numerous  bomb-explosions  all 
over  the  peninsula.  In  Paris  an  abortive 
attempt  was 
made  to  blow  up 
the  house  of  the 
Princess  de 
S  a  g  a  n  .  In 
America,  the 
great  strike  at 
Carnegie's  Steel 
Works,  at  Home- 
stead, at  which 
pitched  battles 
between  armed 
strikers  and 
Pinkerton  police 
were  frequent, 
culminated  in 
the  attempt  of  the  Anarchist  Berkmann  to 
shoot   the  manager,   Frick,   for  which  he   was 


58    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

afterwards  sent  to  penal  servitude.  In  Spain 
an  attempt  was  made  to  blow  up  the  Parliament 
(Cortes),  for  which,  two  years  later,  an  Anarchist 
named  Ferriera  was  sentenced  to  seven  years' 
imprisonment.  On  November  8,  a  bomb  placed 
before  the  Paris  offices  of  the  Carmaux  Mining 
Company  was  discovered  by  the  police  and 
removed  to  the  Rue  des  Bons  Enfants  police 
station,  where  it  exploded  and  killed  four  police- 
men. 

In  1893,  at  Barcelona,  a  bomb  was  thrown 
from  the  gaUery  of  the  Liceo  Theatre,  killing 
some  twenty  persons.  For  this  iniquitous  crime 
Salvador  Franch  and  six  other  Anarchists  were 
shot.  In  Paris,  August  Vaillant  threw  an  ex- 
plosive bomb  into  the  French  Parliament  from 
one  of  the  public  galleries.  The  missile  exploded 
in  mid-air,  wounding  more  or  less  severely  some 
sixty  persons,  including  deputies,  ushers,  and 
visitors.  He  was  guillotined  two  months  later. 
In  England  an  Anarchist  leader  named  Conway 
was  sentenced  to  eighteen  months'  imprisonment 
for  an  attempted  jewel  robbery.  On  September 
24,  a  dynamite  bomb  was  thrown  by  the  Spanish 
Anarchist  Pallas  at  Marshal  Martinez  Campos, 
who  was  about  to  review  the  troops  at  Barcelona. 
The   bomb    exploded   among   the    staff-officers, 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHISTjfsg^ 

killing  a  sergeant'of  the  Civil  Guard  and  injuring 
a  general.  The  Marshal's  horse  was  killed 
under  him,  but  he  himself  escaped  with  a  severe 
contusion.  Pallas  was  afterwards  tried  by  court- 
martial  and  shot.  At  Madrid,  on  July  2,  a 
bomb  exploded  before  the  house  of  Signor 
Canovas,  ex-President  of  the  Council,  killing 
an  Anarchist  named  Ruiz,  who  was  the  author 
of  the  attempt.  This  same  year  the  Anarchist 
Schinhi  was  sentenced  at  Viterbo  in  Italy  to 
eleven  years'  penal  servitude  for  shooting  a 
policeman.  During  some  popular  disturbances 
in  Italy,  the  Anarchists  attempted  to  throw 
a  train  off  the  line  at  Avenza,  and  to  cause  a 
bomb  explosion  at  the  Monarchical  Club  at 
Leghorn. 

The  year  1894  was  a  year  of  great  Anarchist 
activity.  In  England,  the  Anarchist  Martial 
Bourdin  blew  himself  to  pieces  with  his  own 
bomb  while  bent  on  destroying  the  Royal  Obser- 
vatory in  Greenwich  Park.  Two  Italian  Anar- 
chists, Polti  and  Farnara,  who  had  given  a 
Blackfriars  Road  firm  of  engineers  an  order  for 
iron  bomb-shells,  were  sentenced  in  June  to 
ten  and  twenty  years  respectively.  It  is  sur- 
mised that  their  intention  was  to  blow  up  the 
Stock  Exchange  or  the  Houses  of  Parliament. 


6o    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

In  this  year,  also,  David  Nicoll,  editor  of  the 
notorious  Commonweal,  was  sent  to  prison  for 
an  article  advising  murder.  In  July,  the  com- 
positor and  assistant  of  this  paper  were  sentenced 
to  six  months  apiece  for  seditious  libel.  This 
year,  also,  RoUa  Richards,  a  Deptford  Anarchist, 
was  condemned  to  seven  years  for  blowing  up 
a  number  of  post  offices  in  South  London.  A 
Birmingham  Anarchist,  C.  C.  Davis,  for  smashing 
a  jeweller's  window  with  a  brick  wrapped  in 
a  copy  of  the  Walsall  Anarchist,  and  scattering 
the  jewellery  in  the  roadway,  was  sent  to  eighteen 
months'  imprisonment.  In  France,  the  chief 
Anarchist  event  was  the  assassination  of  President 
Carnot.  As  the  French  President  was  driving 
at  Lyons  a  young  Anarchist  named  Caserio 
Santo  mortally  wounded  him  with  a  dagger. 
The  assassin  acted  on  his  own  initiative  alone, 
but  the  police  depositions  made  it  abundantly 
clear  that  he  must  have  heard  the  assassination 
of  Carnot  continually  discussed  in  Anarchist 
circles.  On  July  26,  the  Anarchist  Meunier, 
extradited  from  England,  was  sent  to  penal 
servitude  for  life  for  an  explosion  at  the  Cafe 
Very.  Early  in  the  year  Emile  Henri  threw 
a  bomb  from  the  balcony  of  the  Caf6  Terminus, 
wounding  twenty-four  persons  and  causing  two 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    6i 

deaths.  He  also  confessed  himself  to  be  the 
author  of  the  abortive  attempt  in  1893  against 
the  Carmaux's  Company's  office,  and  was  after- 
wards guillotined.  On  March  15,  Joseph  Pauwells 
exploded  a  bomb  and  himself  at  the  Madeleine 
Church,  Paris ;  and  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
was  made  to  blow  up  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
at  Rome.  On  April  4,  an  explosion  occurred 
at  the  Cafe  Foyet,  opposite  the  Luxembourg 
Palace,  wounding  an  Anarchist  poet  named 
Laurent  Tailhade.  In  the  same  year,  a  bomb 
placed  over  the  door  of  a  room  in  the  Rue  Saint 
Jacques,  by  an  unknown  person  giving  the 
fictitious  name  of  "  Rabardy,"  wounded  the 
landlady,  Madame  Calabresi,  who  afterwards  died. 
The  police  were  directed  by  "  Rabardy "  to  a 
house  in  the  Rue  Faubourg  St.  Martin,  where 
also  a  bomb  was  placed  over  a  door,  but  this 
was  detected  and  exploded  by  them  at  a  safe 
distance,  by  means  of  electric  wires.  For  these 
crimes  a  German  Anarchist  named  Muller,  in 
May,  confessed  himself  the  author.  A  French 
Anarchist  shoemaker,  Leauthier  by  name,  aged 
twenty  years,  was  this  year  condemned  to  hard 
labour  for  life  for  wounding  M.  Georgevitch, 
the  Servian  Minister  in  France,  at  a  Paris  restau- 
rant.   From  the  age  of  sixteen,  when  Leauthier 


62    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

first  became  an  Anarchist,  his  character  was 
observed  to  change ;  he  showed  signs  of  a  dis- 
turbed mind  ;  became  morose  ;  and  in  November 
of  1893  wrote  to  Sebastian  Faure,  the  Anarchist 
leader,  saying  that  he  felt  he  must  attack  a 
bourgeois.  In  Italy  an  attempt  was  made  to 
assassinate  Signer  Crispi. 

The  two  following  years  saw  a  lull  in  Anarchist 
activity,  due  mainly  to  the  severe  repressive 
measures  employed  by  the  various  Governments. 
But  in  1897  occurred  the  murder  of  Antonio 
Canovas  del  Castillo,  the  Spanish  Premier,  by 
the  Anarchist  Angiolillo. 

This  was  followed  shortly  after,  in  1898,  by 
the  cowardly  murder  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth 
of  Austria  by  an  Anarchist  named  Luccheni, 
who,  condemned  to  life-long  solitary  confinement, 
is  reported  to  be  more  or  less  demented,  spending 
the  grey  hours  of  his  silent  existence  in  abyssmal 
despair,  varied  by  periods  of  ethereal  and  frightful 
excitement. 

In  1900,  King  Humbert  of  Italy  was  stabbed 
to  death  by  the  Anarchist  Bresci,  who,  unable 
to  endure  the  terrible  punishment  of  solitary 
immurement  for  life,  preferred  to  die  in  his 
cell  by  his  own  hand. 

In  the  following  year,  1901,  President  McKinley 


LUCCHENI, 

The  cowardly  assassin  of  the 
Empress  of  Austria. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    63 

was  assassinated  by  a  Polish  Anarchist  named 
Czolgosz  while  in  the  act  of  holding  a  reception 
at  the  Temple  of  Music  in  the  Buffalo  Exhibition. 
On  February  27,  this  same  year,  M.  Bogoliepoff, 
Russian  Minister  of  Education,  was  killed. 

In  1902,  Hirch  le  Kuch,  a  Russian  Anarchist, 
made  a  murderous  attack  on  Lieutenant-General 
Whal,  Governor  of  Wilna,  for  which  he  was 
hanged  on  June  11.  April  15  saw  the  assassina- 
tion of  M.  Sipiaguine,  Russian  Minister  of  the 
Interior,  who  was  shot  four  times  in  the  vestibule 
of  the  Council  of  the  Empire,  in  St.  Petersburg. 

In  1903,  the  Russian  General  Bogdanovitch, 
Governor  of  Ufa,  was  killed  on  May  19. 

1904  saw  the  assassination  of  General  Bobri- 
koff,  Governor  of  Finland.  In  the  same  year, 
M.  de  Plehve,  the  iron-handed  Russian  Minister 
of  the  Interior,  was  blown  to  pieces  by  a  bomb 
as  he  was  driving  through  St.  Petersburg  on 
July  28.  Only  a  month  before  he  had  said  : 
"  My  police  easily  control  the  Nihilists — every 
one  of  them  is  known."  A  ragged  man  standing 
in  the  door  of  a  cafe  threw  the  De  Plehve  bomb. 
"  If  the  police  persists  in  its  present  policy  M.  de 
Plehve's  successor  will  meet  with  the  same  doom," 
he  told  the  police. 

In    1905 — on   January    19 — an   extraordinary 


64    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

attempt  was  made  to  assassinate  the  Czar, 
Alexander  III. — a  cannon  loaded  with  case 
shot  being  fired  at  him  during  the  ceremony 
of  blessing  the  waters  of  the  Neva  in  St.  Peters- 
burg. The  crime  failed  in  its  object,  but  a 
policeman  was  killed  by  one  of  the  bullets, 
while  two  other  persons  were  injured.  Bullets 
also  broke  the  windows  of  the  Winter  Palace. 
The  astonishing  feature  of  this  attempt  was 
that  the  loaded  cannon — one  of  a  battery  of 
eight  saluting  guns — was  fired  by  the  Guards 
corps,  who  are  the  custodians  of  the  Emperor's 
person.  On  February  i6,  the  Russian  Grand 
Duke  Sergius  was  blown  to  pieces  by  a  bomb,  in 
revenge  for  the  events  of  "  Red  Sunday " 
(January  22)  when  peaceful  men,  women,  and 
children  were  massacred  in  the  streets  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, while  exercising  their  constitutional  right  of 
petitioning  their  sovereign.  Prince  Andronni- 
koff,  also,  was  stabbed  to  death  in  Warsaw 
for  the  part  he  took  in  these  outrages,  and  so 
also  was  Prince  Vasiltchykoff  "  removed." 

On  March  23,  1905,  was  concluded  the  sen- 
sational trial  at  Amiens  of  the  Abbeville  gang 
of  forty  Anarchist  thieves,  with  the  passing  of 
life  sentences  on  the  leader,  Marius  Jacob,  and 
Bour.    Fcrre  was  sentenced  to  ten  years'  solitary 


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CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    65 

confinement,  and  Pelisard  to  eight  years'  penal 
servitude.  Jacob's  mother,  and  the  woman 
Lazarine,  Roux,  and  Ferre  each  received  five 
years'  imprisonment.  Shorter  terms  were  served 
out  to  the  lesser  members  of  this  unique  organisa- 
tion. They  received  their  sentences  with  cries 
of  "  Long  live  Anarchy  !  " 

An  attempt  to  assassinate  General  Maximo- 
vitch,  Governor-General  of  Warsaw,  was  frus- 
trated on  May  19,  by  two  detectives,  who  paid 
with  their  lives  the  penalty  of  their  zeal.  On 
going  to  arrest  the  would-be  assassin,  an  Anar- 
chist named  Dobrowolski,  the  bomb  exploded, 
killing  all  three.  An  attempt  was  also  made 
this  year  to  assassinate  the  King  of  Spain  in 
Paris,  a  bomb  being  thrown  at  the  carriage 
in  which  His  Majesty  and  the  President  of  the 
French  Republic  were  driving  after  a  visit  to 
the  Opera. 

At  the  Old  Bailey,  two  Italian  Anarchists, 
Adolfo  Antonelli  and  Francesca  Barberi,  were 
sentenced  to  ten  months'  and  nine  months' 
-^  imprisonment  respectively  for  publishing  in 
Ulnsurrezione,  a  justification  of  political  assas- 
sination, and  inciting  to  the  murder  of  the  sove- 
reigns and  rulers]^of  Europe,  notably  King  Victor 
Emmanuel  III.  of  Italy. 

N  E 


66    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

On  March  17,  1906,  the  notorious  Johann 
Most  died  in  Cincinnatti,  U.S.A.,  of  erysipelas. 
In  1 88 1  he  was  sent  to  prison  here  for  applauding 
the  assassination  of  the  Czar,  and  his  paper, 
Die  Freiheit,  and  printing  press,  were  confiscated. 

A  bomb  was  thrown  at  the  carriage  in  which 
the  King  and  Queen  of  Spain  were  returning 
from  their  wedding  on  Thursday,  May  31,  1906, 
fatally  injuring  twenty-five  people  and  inflicting 
serious  wounds  on  thirty-four  others.  The 
assassin,  an  Anarchist  named  Mateo  Moral, 
escaped,  but  was  arrested  on  June  2,  fourteen 
miles  from  the  scene  of  the  outrage,  by  a  gen- 
darme, whom  he  shot  on  the  spot,  afterwards 
turning  the  weapon  on  himself. 


VIII. 
AN  ANARCHIST  CONFERENCE. 

The  Anarchist  is  nothing  if  not  unconventional. 
At  his  "  conferences "  chairmen,  voting  on 
resolutions,  and  the  other  necessary  conditions 
for  the  preservation  of  order,  are  altogether 
dispensed  with,  as  savouring  of  the  "  authority  " 
he  so  much  detests,  with,  of  course,  the  conse- 
quence that  order  is  conspicuous  by  its  absence, 
and,  more  often  than  not,  the  "  conference " 
ends  up  in  a  free  fight  between  the  various 
factions  present. 

If  My  first  experience  at  an  Anarchist  conference 
was  as  follows  : — An  announcement  had  appeared 
in  the  Commonweal  to  the  effect  that  a  conference 
of  London  and  provincial  Anarchists  would  be 
held  on  a  certain  date  at  a  notorious  rendezvous 
of  the  cult  off  Tottenham  Court  Road,  to  which 
"  all  comrades  were  invited."  I  decided  to 
accept  the  invitation  and  be  present  at  their 
deliberations.  The  subject  down  for  the  "  com- 
rades' '*  discussion  was  "  The  Right  of  Individual 


68    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST 

Expropriation,"  or,  in  plain  English,  "The 
Right  to  Thieve."  Presenting  myself  to  time 
at  the  place  of  meeting,  and  finding  the  door 
ajar,  I  walked  in,  and  found  myself  in  a  narrow 
passage  which  led  into  a  small  hall,  where  I 
took  a  seat  among  the  other  "  companions " 
assembled. 

Right  here  let  me  explain  that,  contrary  to 
general  belief,  among  Anarchists,  the  various 
paraphernalia  of  Freemasonry — signs,  passwords, 
etc. — are  altogether  dispensed  with,  being  con- 
trary to  Anarchist  "  principles,"  which  allow  of 
no  form  of  authority  or  organisation  whatsoever. 
No  credentials  are  required,  for  the  Anarchist 
does  not  admit  the  possibility  of  one  person 
representing  anyone  but  himself.  Secretarial 
work,  according  to  the  Anarchist  theory,  is  done 
by  anyone  who  feels  that  way  inclined ;  and  if 
volunteers  are  not  forthcoming  the  work  remains 
undone. 

But  to  resume  my  story.  Once  inside  the 
hall,  a  spectacle  greeted  my  sight  I  shall  not 
soon  forget.  Seated  about  in  confusion  were  a 
number  of  evil-looking  men  and  women  of 
almost  every  nationality — shouting,  stamping, 
and  gesticulating.  On  the  walls,  in  gorgeous 
red,  were  painted  a  number  of  Anarchistic  mottoes 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.     69 

in  German,  and  at  the  end  of  the  hall  a  small 
stage  was  erected,  on  the  facia  of  which,  in  bold 


A  Sketch  at  the  old  Autonomie  Club. 
By  permission  of  The  Daily  Graphic. 

English,  appeared  the  legend — "  Anarchy  is 
Order."  Among  the  distinguished  personages 
present  I  noticed  Louise  Michel,  E.  Malatesta, 
and  several  Continental  Anarchists  who  later 
ended  their  careers  on  the  gallows  or  under  the 
guillotine. 

An   hour    beyond   the   advertised   time   had 
passed,  and  there  were  no  signs  of  the  seance 


70    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

commencing.  Suddenly,  one  of  the  "  comrades  " 
was  heard  shrieking  for  order,  which,  after  great 
trouble,  was  obtained.  A  "comrade"  of  un- 
mistakably Jewish  countenance  rose  and  ad- 
dressed the  meeting.  His  sentiments  were  nothing 
more  or  less  than  incitements  to  all  kinds  of 
crime.  "  Pillage  and  murder  the  rich,"  he 
shrieked.  That  was  the  sentiment  of  the  whole 
meeting.  Space  wiU  not  allow  of  my  reproducing 
any  of  the  speeches,  which  were  revolting  in 
the  extreme.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  speakers 
declaimed  hotly  anent  the  injustice  of  everything 
in  general,  and  the  necessity  for  the  "  removal  " 
of  monarchs  and  all  in  authority,  who,  they 
claimed,  were  responsible  for  the  ills  of  the  world. 
One  speaker  held  up  Ravachol,  the  Anarchist 
scoundrel  who  lived  by  thieving,  coining,  and 
forgery,  and  who  ended  under  the  guillotine  for 
brutally  murdering  an  old  man  in  order  to  get 
his  money,  as  a  "  hero  "  worth  copying.  "  We 
want  some  English  Ravachols,"  he  shrieked. 
These  sentiments,  however,  roused  the  ire  of  the 
more  peaceably  inclined,  who  are  known  as 
"  Christian  Anarchists,"  and  more  potent  argu- 
ments than  words  were  the  outcome  of  the 
debate. 
During  the  progress  of  the  conference  a  thick 


^CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    71 

bordered  mourning  card  was  distributed  among 
those  assembled — 

"  IN  LOVING  MEMORY 

of 

MARTIAL  BOURDIN  ; 

who  was  killed  by  the  bursting  of  a  bomb 

in  Greenwich  Park." 

and  containing  the  following  piece  of  alleged 
poetry : — 

"  Spurning  the  name  of  a  slave, 
Fearless  of  gaol  or  of  grave, 
Fighting  for  Freedom,   he  gave 
His  life  in  the  Revolution. 
Time  shall  not  rob  him  of  fame  ; 
Hating  the  tyrant,  and  game 
In  the  spirit  that  rings  in  his  name, 
He    died    for    the    Revolution." 

At  this  conference  it  was  proposed  to  burn 
monarchs,  lawyers,  and  persons  in  authority  in 
effigy,  as  a  means  of  calling  attention  to  the 
Anarchist  propaganda.  A  discussion  arose  as 
to  the  advisability  of  a  "No  Rent"  campaign. 
One  "  comrade  "  formulated  a  plan  of  occupying 
model  dwellings,  and  a  French  "  comrade " 
told  how  they  worked  the  "  Anti-Broker  Brigade  " 
in  Paris.  There,  he  said,  whenever  a  comrade 
is  in  trouble  with  his  landlord,  six  or  seven 
Anarchists  go  to  his  house  in  a  body  and  carry 
off  the  furniture.    This,  he  explained,  would  be 


72    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

easy  work  in  England,  as  in  Paris  every  house 
has  a  porter,  who  usually  tries  to  interfere  with 
the  departure  of  the  household  goods,  and  has 
to  be  knocked  down  before  he  will  be  quiet — 
while  in  London  this  is  not  the  case.  He  con- 
cluded by  saying  :  "  Persevere  with  this  pro- 
paganda, comrades;  there  is  none  better." 


SiPIDO, 

Who  fired  at  King  Edward  in  Brussels. 

Then  an  ex-editor  of  Le  Pere  Peinard,  who 
had  escaped  from  France  to  avoid  imprisonment, 
urged  the  claims  of  "  Expropriation  "  (Anarchist 
jargon  for  stealing).  He  pressed  the  "  comrades  " 
to  do  their  utmost  to  persuade  the  people  to 
seize  upon  the  wealth  of  the  capitalists  on  every 
possible  occasion;  and,   after  some   discussion 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    73 

it  was  agreed  that  the  "  principle  "  was  good, 
and  that  we  should  preach  and  practise  it  when- 
ever possible. 

The  conference  was  brought  to  a  close  by  the 
singing  of  revolutionary  songs,  one  of  which 
extolled  the  virtues  of  "  Petroleum  *'  as  the 
"  stuff  which  makes  the  bourgeois  fly  1"  and 
concluding  with  the  terrible  "  Carmagnole,"  the 
last  verse  of  which  goes  as  follows : — 

"  O  what  is  it  the  people  cry  ? 

Arms  I    Arms  !    to  make  our  rulers  fly  1 
Bombs,  powder,  pikes  and  lead 
Shall  bring  our  brothers  bread  I 

Cold  on  the  earth  shall  tyrants  lie  ! 
Vive  le  son,  du  canon  I " 


y 


IX.il 

ANARCHIST  COMMUNITIES. 

There  have  been  many  communities  founded 
on  Anarchist  methods  (or  rather,  lack  of  methods), 
but  everyone  has  resulted  in  ignominious  failure. 
From  1890  to  1894  there  existed  at  Palmira,  in 
Brazil,  a  community  of  300  Italian  Anarchists 
known  as  the  Cecilia  Community.  Its  object 
was  to  illustrate  Anarchist  teaching  by  practical 
example.  The  colonists  were,  indeed,  a  motley 
crowd  ;  they  included  peasants,  mechanics,  crimi- 
nals, professional  men,  illiterate  men,  and  men 
highly  trained — men  of  every  shade  of  personal 
character,  religious  faith,  and  technical  ability. 
Everyone  had  in  his  or  her  turn  been  an  active 
propagandist  of  Anarchist  theories,  but  yearned 
to  see  their  practical  application.  The  Cecilia 
Community,  consequently,  was  founded  that  the 
unbelieving  world  might  witness  the  possibility 
and  desirability  of  living  in  a  condition  of  absolute 
freedom,  without  laws  or  restrictions  of  any 
kind   whatever.    Everybody   in   Cecilia   did   as 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    75 

they  "  darned-well  pleased."  There  was  no 
social  organisation,  no  rules,  no  officials,  and 
everyone  was  free  to  work  or  not,  as  he  pleased. 
Anything  which  savoured  of  system  was  reli- 
giously tabooed  as  being  contrary  to  the  Anarchist 
evangel ;  there  was  no  programme,  no  table  of 
hours,  no  standard  of  efficiency  of  labour.  Laws 
were  relegated  to  limbo ;  voting  and  the  settle- 
ment of  differences  by  majority-rule,  being 
contrary  to  Anarchist  "  principles,"  were  con- 
signed to  the  same  place.  Their  village,  which 
they  designated  "  Anarchy,"  consisted  of  log-huts 
6  feet  long,  4  feet  deep,  and  9  feet  high ;  some 
had  a  wooden  flooring,  but  most  had  only  the 
earth  stamped  down ;  a  bed  constituted  the 
regulation  furniture,  but  some  possessed  the 
luxury  of  a  table.  During  their  four  years' 
existence  as  a  community  their  clothes  remained 
the  same,  and  presented  a  sorry  picture  of 
patchwork.  Their  diet  consisted  mainly  of  vege- 
tables, and  bacon  was  looked  upon  as  a  great 
luxury.  One  of  the  balance-sheets  shows  an 
item  of  £263  received  from  the  Brazilian  Govern- 
ment for  mending  roads,  showing  that  the 
Anarchists  were  partly  dependent  on  the  enemy 
for  their  livelihood. 
Dr.  Rossi,  one  of  the  colonists,  describing  his 


76    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

experiences,  says :  "  Our  life  was  filled  with 
a  systematic  spirit  of  contradiction,  which  caused 
us  to  lose  many  working  hours  in  endless  dis- 
cussion ;  when  we  met  in  the  evening,  the  noise 

V  of  our  conversation  could  be  heard  nearly  a  mile 
off,  though  the  doors  were  shut."  Everywhere 
was  universal  mistrust,  quarrelling,  and  back- 
biting ;  and  of  course  Anarchist  "  principles " 
admitted  of  no  method  of  remedying  these  evils. 
The  result  was  soon  seen.  Acting  in  accordance 
with  the  Anarchist  principle  of  separating, 
rather  than  submit  to  majority  or  any  other  rule, 

^  the  larger  number  went  its  own  way  and  the 
minority  took  up  its  position  outside  the  com- 
munal land.  But  later  on  differences  again 
sprang  up,  and,  following  the  same  and  only 
permissible  policy  with  Anarchists,  they  separated 
once  more,  and  thus,  instead  of  remaining  one 
harmoniously-acting  body,  they  became  dis- 
united into  four.  Shortly  again,  fresh  differences 
showed  themselves,  and  again  they  separated 
into  eight  parts,  and  so  on,  until,  out  of  the  300 
"  emancipated "  colonists  but  a  mere  handful 
remained,  and  the  "  community  "  was  surrounded 
on  all  sides  by  minorities  larger  than  itself.  This 
last  handful  sold  the  place  to  a  group  of  seceders, 
paid  all  the  debts  with  the  proceeds,  and  finally 


^CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    77 

disbanded,  having  proved  conclusively  the  im- 
practicability and  rank  idiocy  of  Anarchist 
"  principles  "  in  practice. 

.  In  England  there  have  been  at  least  two 
Anarchist  colonies.  One  was  established  in 
1895  at  Clousden  Hill  Farm,  near  Newcastle-  v^ 
on-Tyne,  and  was  conducted  on  Anarchist 
Communist  principles.  Some  Anarchists  resident 
in  the  vicinity  of  Newcastle  and  Sunderland  had 
become  impressed  by  an  article  by  the  Russian 
ex-prince  Kropotkin  (the  leader  of  London 
Anarchists)  in  one  of  the  magazines  describing 
the  "  advanced ''  methods  of  agriculture  in 
operation  in  Guernsey  and  the  Channel  Islands, 
where  almost  everything  is  reared  under  glass. 
In  this  article  Kropotkin  prophesied  that  "  before 
long  immense  vineries  would  grow  up  round 
the  coal-pits  of  Northumberland,  where  artificial 
heat  can  be  obtained  from  coals  selling  at  3s. 
per  ton."  With  the  financial  assistance  of 
a  wealthy  London  Anarchist,  the  Newcastle 
"  comrades  "  were  enabled  to  purchase  the  farm 
before  mentioned,  which  they  converted  into  an 
Anarchist  colony.  A  portion  of  the  land  they 
covered  with  glass,  and  organised  a  poultry  and 
dairy  farm,  besides  vegetable  gardens  and  or- 
chards, the  produce  from  which  they  despatched 


yS    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

weekly  to  the  local  co-operative  store  and  the 
Newcastle  market.  Their  aim  was  "  to  give 
an  object  lesson  "  in  Anarchism.  The  colonists, 
who  comprised  men  and  women  of  several 
nationalities,  had  large  ideas  regarding  the 
regeneration  of  mankind,  but,  as  is  usually  the 
case,  forgot  to  apply  them  to  themselves.  The 
rule  of  the  colony  was  no  rule,  everybody  doing 
as  he  or  she  pleased,  and  disputes  were  supposed 
to  be  settled  on  "  love  and  brotherhood  "  prin- 
ciples. Even  the  live  stock  on  the  farm  approved 
the  general  Anarchist  principle  of  do-as-you-like, 
for,  according  to  one  of  the  colonists,  the  fowls 
would  not  lay,  the  bees  refused  to  swarm,  the 
rabbits  ran  away,  and  the  ducks  died.  One 
of  their  cows  proved  to  be  blind,  another  went 
mad,  whilst  a  third  died  when  calving.  With 
horses  matters  fared  no  better.  One  fine-looking 
young  beast  became  so  infatuated  with  Anarchist 
principles  of  revolt  that  he  contracted  a  habit 
of  bolting  whenever  he  was  yoked ;  a  second 
preferred  lying  down  to  pulling  a  load  for 
tyrant  man,  and  another  manifested  his  contempt 
for  things  communal  by  kicking  the  front  out 
of  every  cart  to  which  he  was  harnessed. 

Very  few  of  the  colonists  had  had  any  previous 
experience  of  the  work  they  were  undertaking. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    79 

An  amateur  built  a  30-feet  smoke  shaft,  and 
disdained  the  use  of  such  a  simple  tool  as  a 
plumb-line.  The  consequence  was  that  the  shaft 
refused  to  maintain  its  tower  of  Pisa-like  position, 
and  came  to  earth  with  a  crash. 

The  colony  prospered  for  a  while,  but  when 
differences  began  to  show  themselves  the  members 
saw  at  once  the  impossibility  of  settling  them 
amicably  without  discarding  the  Anarchist  prin- 
ciples upon  which  the  colony  was  founded. 
They  flung  Anarchy  to  the  winds,  and  for  days 
spent  their  time  in  framing  sets  of  rules.  But 
gradually  the  membership  of  the  colony  decreased 
until  but  twelve  were  left,  of  whom  only  six 
were  voters.  Will  it  be  believed  that  among 
this  six  there  actually  were  two  parties  ? 

The  colony  came  to  grief  in  a  tangle  of  quarrel- 
ling. Two  of  the  colonists  bought  their  colleagues 
out,  and  started  a  flower  business  on  their  own 
account.  This  turned  out  a  failure,  and  the 
affairs  of  the  concern  came  before  the  Newcastle 
Bankruptcy  Court  in  April,  1902. 

In  1897  was  founded  the  Whiteway  Anarchist 
colony  in  Gloucestershire,  which,  I  believe, 
exists  to  this  day,  but  based  on  different  principles. 
The  colony  was  founded  by  Samuel  Bracher, 
a  Gloucester  journalist,  who,  for  £450,  purchased 


8o    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

a  farm  of  41  acres,  provided  implements,  seeds, 
cattle,  food,  etc.,  in  all  spending  some  £1,200 — 
his  whole  capital.  At  the  beginning  the  colonists 
numbered  only  about  eight,  but  ultimately 
the  number  rose  to  forty.  Their  first  act  was  to 
show  their  contempt  for  "  conventionality  "  by 
burning  the  title-deeds  of  the  farm  ! 

The  colonists  were,  indeed,  a  curious  crowd. 
They  comprised  a  Leipsic  doctor  of  philosophy, 
an  Oxford  tutor  of  Greek,  a  son  of  a  wealthy 
Birmingham  manufacturer,  an  ex-science  lecturer, 
several  artisans,  a  farmer,  two  or  three  Quakers, 
and  a  few  women.  They  had  no  rules  of  any 
kind,  and  everyone  did  as  he  or  she  liked.  To 
become  a  colonist  no  application  was  needed ; 
all  that  anyone  had  to  do  was  to  take  a  seat 
at  the  common  table.  All  things  were  supposed 
to  be  held  in  common  (although  how  this  was 
possible  without  some  form  of  rules  and  authority 
passes  comprehension),  and  all  the  money  they 
possessed  was  kept  in  a  small  open  box  upon  the 
mantel  shelf.  The  result  was  that,  whilst  some 
of  the  colonists  worked  hard,  the  majority 
sponged  idly  upon  their  labours.  Gradually  the 
indolence  and  licence  of  some  of  the  members 
became  more  pronounced,  until  in  disgust, 
Bracher,  the  founder,  his  wife,  and  others,  left 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    8i 

the  colony.  No  idea  can  be  given  of  the  indolence 
and  sheer  animalism  of  this  Whiteway  Anarchia, 
with  its  lawless  licence  and  its  cadging.  So 
disgusted  were  some  of  the  colonists  that  they 
renounced  Anarchy  straightway,  and  on  an 
adjoining  farm  started  a  co-operative  colony 
based  on  laws  and  authority,  the  chief  law 
being  "  He  that  will  not  work,  neither  shall 
he  eat." 

Whilst  the  foregoing,  avowedly  Anarchist  in 
character,  all  ended  in  failure,  there  are  several 
instances  on  record  of  successful  but  unconscious 
Anarchism.  A  work  published  in  Paris,  in  1888, 
on  "La  Russie  Sectaire,"  by  M.  Taskin,  gives 
some  curious  information  concerning  the  various 
sects,  religious  and  political,  to  be  found  through- 
out the  Colossus  of  the  North.  One  of  the  most 
numerous  and  widespread  is  that  known  as  the 
Doukoborys,  presumably  the  sect  which  has 
now  taken  up  its  abode  in  Canada  in  order  to 
avoid  Russian  compulsory  military  service,  and 
which  is  more  often  called  the  Dukobortsi,  whose 
fundamental  dogma  is  the  negation  of  all  religious 
ceremony  and  pomp,  and  the  adoration  of  God 
"  by  the  spirit  and  truth  of  the  Creator,  which 
everybody  bears  in  his  own  heart."  Man,  they 
say,  carries  God  in  himself  when  he  seeks  to 

F 


82     CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST, 

attain  the  ideal  of  goodness,  simplicity,  and 
honesty.  Wealth  and  poverty  are  to  them  an 
anomaly  and  an  injustice,  and  so  there  are  no 
servants  and  masters,  no  chiefs  or  subjects. 
Equality  is  carried  to  the  extent  of  denying  the 
obedience  of  children  to  their  parents,  and 
consequently  parental  authority  is  nil.  Women 
enjoy  the  same  rights  as  men.  All  constraint 
is  prohibited  and  free-love  the  order  of  the  day. 
No  authority,  whether  in  temporal  or  spiritual 
affairs,  is  recognised.  Every  person  obeys  only 
his  own  conscience.  All  the  affairs  of  the  com- 
munity are  arranged  in  a  general  assembly. 
Strange  to  say,  this  singular  society,  although 
based  on  the  negation  of  all  authority,  according 
to  M.  Taskin,  works  relatively  well.  The  moral 
level  of  it  is  said  to  be  superior  to  that  of  the 
neighbouring  orthodox  population.  The  mem- 
bers are  thriving,  more  active,  and  healthier. 
Crime  is  unknown  among  them ;  quarrels  are 
rare,  and  always  end  in  reconciliation.  Mutual 
assistance  is  universally  practised.  In  short, 
the  Doukobory  appear  to  be  the  very  ideal  of 
society  dreamt  of  by  Louise  Michel  and  her 
acolytes.  The  Anarchist  points  to  this  sect  as 
an  example  of  the  results  which  must  follow 
from  the  adoption  of  Anarchist  principles,  but 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    83 

where   would    the    society   have   been   but    for 
the  binding  influence  of  religion  ?  * 

The  Anarchist  journal  Freedom  has  given  what 
it  describes  as  a  "  capital  example  of  practical 
Anarchy."  It  appears  that  in  January,  1857, 
Mr.  A.  R.  Wallace,  travelling  among  the  islands 
of  the  Malay  Archipelago,  went  in  a  native 
trading  boat  to  the  Aru  Islands,  and  stayed  at 
Dobbo,  the  settlement  inhabited  by  the  traders 
of  various  nationalities  who  visit  this  island 
every  year  and  live  there  from  four  to  six  months. 
Quoting  Mr.  Wallace  (The  Malay  Archipelago), 
Freedom  continues :  "I  dare  say  there  are  now 
500  people  in  Dobbo  of  various  races,  all  met 
in  this  remote  corner  of  the  East,  as  they  express 
it,  *  to  look  for  their  fortune,'  to  get  money  any 
way  they  can.  They  are  most  of  them  people  who 
have  the  very  worst  reputation  for  honesty,  as 

*  The  latest  information  regarding  this  sect  dates 
from  Winnipeg,  and  states  that  the  colony  is  in 
danger  of  being  broken  up,  owing  to  its  members  having 
been  seized  with  acute  religious  mania.  They  have 
abandoned  the  use  of  horses,  cows,  and  all  domestic 
animals,  and  turned  them  adrift  in  the  hills,  as  they 
refuse  to  keep  them  in  servitude.  Moreover,  they 
will  not  wear  wool  or  leather  because  these  are  the 
products  of  animals,  and  the  men  now  perform  the 
work  of  beasts  of  burden. 


84    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

well  as  every  other  form  of  morality — Chinese, 
Bugis,  Ceramese,  and  half-caste  Javanese,  with 
a  sprinkling  of  half-wild  Papuans  from  Timor, 
Babber,  and  other  islands — yet  all  goes  on  as 
yet  very  quietly.  This  motley,  ignorant,  bloodr 
thirsty,  thievish  population  live  here  without 
the  shadow  of  a  Government,  with  no  police, 
no  courts,  and  no  lawyers ;  yet  they  do  not  cut 
each  other's  throats  ;  do  not  fall  into  the  disorder 
such  a  state  of  things  might  be  supposed  to  lead 
to.     It  is  very  extraordinary  !  " 

"The  Dobbo  people,"  Mr.  Wallace  continues, 
"  are  all  traders,  and  all  know  that  peace  and 
order  are  essential  to  successful  trade,  and  thus 
a  public  opinion  is  created  which  puts  down  all 
lawlessness.  Often  in  former  years,  when  strolling 
along  the  Campong  Glam,  in  Singapore,  I  have 
thought  how  wild  and  ferocious  the  Bugis  sailors 
looked,  and  how  little  I  should  like  to  trust  myself 
among  them.  But  now  I  find  them  to  be  very 
decent,  well-behaved  fellows  ;  I  walk  daily  un- 
armed in  the  jungle,  where  I  meet  them  continu- 
ally ;  I  sleep  in  a  palm-leaf  hut,  which  anyone 
may  enter,  with  as  little  fear  and  as  little  danger 
of  thieves  or  murder  as  if  I  were  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Metropolitan  police." 

An    occasional    Dutch     commissioner,     from 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    85 

Molucca,  turns  up  once  in  the  season  sometimes 
to  hear  complaints,  settle  disputes,  and  now 
and  again  to  carry  off  some  heinous  offender. 
Twice  Mr.  Wallace  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
the  little  community  under  circumstances  of 
difficulty.  During  his  first  visit  a  man  was 
caught  trying  to  steal  a  piece  of  iron  from  a 
neighbour,  in  whose  wall  he  had  made  a  hole 
for  the  purpose.  That  evening  most  of  the 
traders  met  to  discuss  the  affair,  and  decided 
to  give  the  would-be  robber  twenty  lashes  then 
and  there.  "  They  were  given  with  a  small 
rattan,  in  the  middle  of  the  street — not  very 
severely,  as  the  executioner  appeared  to  sym- 
pathise a  little  with  the  culprit.  The  disgrace 
seemed  to  be  thought  as  much  of  as  the  pain ; 
for  though  any  amount  of  clever  cheating  is 
thought  rather  meritorious  than  otherwise,  open 
robbery  and  housebreaking  meet  with  universal 
reprobation."  After  a  visit  to  the  natives  in 
the  interior,  Mr.  Wallace  returned  to  Dobbo, 
and  one  evening  saw  a  dispute  going  on  over 
a  game  of  football.  There  was  a  great  row,  he 
says,  and  he  feared  the  disputants  would  betake 
themselves  to  their  knives,  not  only  the  two  who 
began,  but  a  dozen  or  twenty  of  their  backers 
on  each  side.     But  no.     "  After  a  large  amount 


86    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

of  talk,  it  passed  off  quietly,  and  we  heard  nothing 
about  it  afterwards."  In  fact,  during  the  whole 
seven  months  that  Mr.  Wallace  was  at  or  near 
Dobbo  there  does  not  appear  to  have  been  any 
serious  disturbance  or  any  act  of  violence. 
"  Where  this  is  possible  amongst  a  casual  popu- 
lation of  rough  and  ready  traders,  one  of  whose 
principal  amusements  is  cock-fighting,  it  should 
not  be  impracticable,"  comments  Freedom,  "  in 
a  settled  industrial  community,  where  the  motives 
for  peaceful  mutual  understanding  would  be  far 
stronger  than  amongst  the  semi-socialised  self- 
seekers  of  Dobbo." 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  the  British 
Empire  includes  at  least  two  successful  but 
unconscious  Anarchist  communities.  The  one  is 
at  the  island  of  St.  Kilda,  in  the  remote  Hebrides, 
where  government  and  police  are  conspicuous 
only  by  their  absence  ;  the  other  is  at  Tristan 
d'Acunha  and  Gough  Island,  the  principal  of 
a  group  of  islands,  which,  according  to  the 
"Colonial  Office  List,"  are  situate  in  lat.  37° 
6'  S.  and  long.  12°  2'  W.  It  was  taken  pos- 
session of  by  a  military  force  during  the 
residence  of  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena.  Upon  his 
death,  the  garrison  was  withdrawn,  with  the 
exception    of    three    men,   who,    with    certain 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST,     ^y 

shipwrecked  sailors,  became  the  founders  of  the 
present  settlement.  For  a  long  time  only  one 
of  the  settlers  had  a  wife,  but  subsequently  the 
others  contracted  with  a  sea  captain  to  bring 
them  wives  from  St.  Helena.  The  population 
has  since  increased  to  about  a  hundred,  and 
remains  practically  stationary,  as  the  younger 
and  more  ambitious  settlers  migrate  in  batches 
to  the  Cape.  The  inhabitants  practically  enjoy 
the  possessions  in  common,  and  there  is  no 
strong  drink  on  the  island,  and  no  crime.  It 
was,  at  one  time  proposed  to  give  them  laws  and 
a  regular  Government,  but  this  was  found 
unnecessary,  for  the  above  reasons,  and  they 
remain  under  the  moral  rule  of  the  oldest  in- 
habitant. Governor  Green,  successor  to  Governor 
Glass,  corporal  in  the  Royal  Artillery,  and 
founder  of  the  settlement.  The  inhabitants  are 
spoken  of  as  highly  religious,  and  this  must  be 
the  explanation  of  their  success. 


When'Jwill  he  get  there? 
(From  an  Anarchist  Print.) 


X. 

ANARCHISM  IN  ENGLAND  :  ITS  HISTORY, 
LEADERS,  AND  PRINCIPLES. 

It  is  now  some  twenty  odd  years  since  the 
gospel  of  knife,  revolver,  torch,  and  bomb  was 
first  introduced  into  the  arena  of  English  politics. 
At  this  time  a  "  group  "  of  Anarchists — among 
them  the  famous  Prince  Kropotkin — met  at 
a  house  in  Newington  Green  Road  and  issued 
a  monthly  "  anti-political  and  revolutionary " 
publication  called  the  Anarchist,  which  later 
appeared  as  the  Revolutionary  Review.  Dissen- 
sions arising  among  the  "  companions,"  a  number, 
among  whom  was  the  Prince,  dissatisfied  with 
the  conduct  of  the  paper,  now  seceded  and 
started  a  rival  journal — Freedom — which  appears 
at  irregular  intervals  to  this  day.  Following  on 
these  events  came  the  split  in  the  Social  Demo- 
cratic Federation,  in  1884,  owing  to  the  political 
and  anti-anarchist  policy  of  that  body,  a  number 
of  whose  members  left  and  formed  themselves 
into    the    Socialist    League,    which,     from    its 


90    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

inception,  evinced  Anarchistic  leanings,  in  that  it 
favoured  forcible  methods.  A  field  having  been 
created  for  their  activity,  several  Anarchists  joined 
the  new  body  with  the  object  of  diverting  its 
propaganda  into  Anarchistic  channels.  This  they 
soon  succeeded  in  accomplishing,  for,  one  by  one, 
the  Socialists  deserted  the  League  in  disgust, 
leaving  the  Anarchists  masters  of  the  situation, 
and  in  possession  of  printing  plant  and  machinery 
which  had  been  presented  to  that  body  by 
William  Morris,  the  poet,  for  the  furtherance  of 
Socialist  principles.  The  Socialist  League  now 
dissolved,  and  in  its  place  appeared  the  "  Com- 
monweal Anarchist  Group "  (named  after  the 
paper  it  published),  a  number  of  whose  members 
soon  after,  for  various  criminal  offences,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  police. 

By  its  propagandist  activity  the  "  Common- 
weal Group "  inspired  the  formation  of  a 
number  of  English  "  groups  "  throughout  Lon- 
don and  the  provinces.  In  London,  these 
"groups"  were  to  be  found  at  Canning  Town 
(with  close  on  a  hundred  members),  Hoxton, 
Peckham,  Clerkenwell,  Mile  End,  Stratford, 
Woolwich,  Brixton,  a.nd  Deptford.  In  the 
provinces,  "  groups "  of  English  Anarchists 
were    active    in    Leicester,    Sunderland,     Hull, 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    91 

Northampton,   Leeds,   Sheffield,  Liverpool,    and 
Walsall. 

Among  the  foreigners  who,  in  England,  es- 
poused the  Anarchist  gospel,  there  existed  a 
feeling  of  utter  contempt  for  their  moderate 
English  companions.  Some  half  dozen  first  met 
in  a  small  back  room  in  Little  Goodge  Street, 
Soho,  about  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the 
Socialist  League.  As  their  numbers  augmented, 
so  they  took  more  pretentious  premises  in 
Rathbone  Place,  till  eventually  the  lease  of  a  house 
was  taken  in  Windmill  Street.  This  latter 
establishment  was  the  now-historical  "  Club 
Autonomie,"  within  whose  four  walls  was  planned 
more  than  one  outrage  which  was  destined  to 
startle  the  world.  One  of  the  earliest  members 
of  this  club  was  Stanislaus  Padlewski,  who  some 
time  afterwards  murdered  the  Russian  General 
Seliverstoff,  and  himself  escaped  to  America. 
A  considerable  sum  was  offered  by  the  Russian 
Government  for  the  body  of  Padlewski,  dead  or 
alive.  Tracked  by  the  police  to  Italy,  to  Malta, 
to  Gibraltar,  he  arrived  in  London,  much  broken 
down  by  this  life  of  a  hunted  wild  beast,  and  was 
taken  in  charge  by  the  "  comrades "  of  the 
Autonomie.  But  no  sooner  had  he  arrived  in 
London  than  the  police  got  scent  of  him,  and 


92    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 


commenced  a  real  orgie  of  espionage.  He  was 
hidden,  however,  and  in  a  disguise  provided  by 
members  of  the  Autonomie,  arrived  safely  on 
American  soil,  where,  in  189 1,  he  committed 
suicide  in  the  park  of  San  Antonio,  Texas. 

At  this  club,  also,  at  different  times,  were  to 
be  seen  men  and  women  whose  names  and 
appearance  were  familiar  to  the  secret  police  of 
practically  every  capital  in  Europe:  Dedajeif, 
the  slayer  of  Colonel  Sudekin ;  Louise  Michel,  the 
"Red  Virgin," 
who  fought  behind  ^^ 
the  barricades  in 
the  Paris  Commu- 
nist Insurrection 
of  1 87 1,  and  who, 
in  1883,  was  sen- 
tenced to  six  years' 
supervision  for 
helping  the  mob 
of  Lyons  to  sack 
the  bread  shops  ; 
Enrico  Malatesta, 
the  leader  of  the 
Italian  Anarchists, 
and  the  most  dangerous  plotter  of  modern  times — 
who,  however,  whenever  trouble  comes — when 


Malatesta  addressing   the  "com- 
rades" at  the  "Club  Autonomie." 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.     93 

the  death  of  kings  and  presidents  is  in  the  air — 
appears  in  the  background  ;  Fehx  Volkovski, 
the  one  time  sub-editor  of  Stepniak's  paper, 
Free  Russia,  who,  although  not  an  Anarchist, 
was  a  frequent  visitor  ;  Francois  Meunier,  who, 
extradited  to  France,  was  sent  to  penal  servitude 
for  an  explosion  at  the  Cafe  Very  in  Paris ; 
Emile  Henri,  who  blew  up  the  Cafe  Terminus; 
Pietro  Gori,  the  expelled  Italian  Anarchist 
lawyer  ;  Dr.  Merlino  ;  Emile  Pouget,  ex-editor 
of  Le  Pere  Peinard  ;  Bernard  Kampffmeyer,  and 
many  others  of  lesser  note.  It  may  also  be 
remembered  that  one  of  the  Walsall  prisoners 
was  arrested  while  passing  the  Tottenham  Court 
Road  police  station  on  his  way  to  the  Autonomie 
Club  with  a  large  bottle  of  chloroform  in  his 
possession. 

Bombs  were  even  made  in  this  dub,  and,  in 
one  or  two  instances,  the  actual  explosives  with 
which  the  bombs  were  charged  were  stored  for 
a  considerable  time  on  the  premises.  Chemistry 
classes  were  formed  and  experiments  made, 
with  the  result  that  the  club  was  burnt  to  the 
ground.  When  the  premises  were  rebuilt,  the 
Anarchists  did  not  inhabit  them  long.  One  of 
the  "  comrades,"  the  Frenchman  Martial  Bourdin, 
bent  on  destroying  the  Greenwich  Observatory, 


^^^4*   CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

was,  one  afternoon,  blown  to  pieces  with  his 
own  bomb.  In  his  possession  was  found  a  card 
of  membership  of  the  Autonomic.  That  evening 
the  poHce  raided  the  premises,  and  the  club 
ceased  to  be. 

Contemporary  with  the  Autonomic  there  sprang 
up  also  a  number  of  foreign  Anarchist  clubs  in 
London  and  the  provinces — the  Scandinavian 
Club  in  Rathbone  Place  ;  the  "  Communistische 
Arbeit er  Bildungs  Verein  "  in  Great  Charlotte 
Street ;  the  German  Club  in  Grafton  Street, 
three  of  whose  members  are  now  in  penal  servi- 
tude for  an  attempted  burglary  in  Dulwich  and 
shooting  a  policeman  ;  the  German  "  Forwards  " 
Club,  Hoxton  ;  the  Jewish  International  Club 
in  Berner  Street,  E.  ;  the  Italian  Club,  Clerken- 
well,  which  comprised  among  its  members  the 
man  Farnara,  who,  with  the  boy  Polti,  were 
sentenced  to  ten  and  twenty  years'  penal  servi- 
tude respectively  for  making  bombs.  In  the 
provinces  the  most  active  among  the  foreign 
groups  were  the  German  "  Club  Liberty "  in 
Hull,  and  the  Jewish  Club,  Leeds. 

Among  the  leaders  of  Anarchist  thought  in 
England  it  is  surprising  how  many,  during  the 
past  few  years,  have  recanted  their  opinions  : 
Henry  Seymour,   editor   of   the  first   Anarchist 


-gCONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    95 

journal  ever  published  in  English,  is  now  a 
peaceful  individualist,  and  occasionally  takes 
part  in  political  agitation ;  H.  B.  Samuels,  the 
one-time  sensational  editor  of  the  notorious 
Commonweal,  has  discarded  Anarchist  opinions 
for  those  of  Social  Democracy;  Dr.  Merlino, 
once  leader  of  the  Italian  section,  and  Miss 
Agnes  Henry  of  the  Freedom  Group,  are  now 
moderate  constitutional  Socialists  ;  Carl  Quinn, 
the  "  Christian  Anarchist,"  has  severed  his 
connection  with  the  party,  and  is  now  a  "  Per- 
petualist  "  (whatever  that  may  be) ;  and  the 
Misses  Rossetti,  who  edited  and  printed  the 
Torch,  and  who  are  related  to  Dante  Gabriel 
Rossetti,  have  left  the  movement  for  good. 

Among  the  leaders  of  present-day  Anarchism 
in  England  may  be  mentioned  the  names  of 
John  Turner,  president  of  the  Shop  Assistants' 
Union ;  Enrico  Malatesta,  the  stormy  petrel  of 
revolt ;  and  Prince  Peter  Alexeivitch  Kropotkin, 
the  most  distinguished  of  all  Russian  exiles.  It 
is  difficult  to  imagine  the  latter — this  quiet 
scientist — as  a  leader  of  revolt,  yet  leader  of 
revolt  he  certainly  is.  He  is  a  regular  contributor 
to  Freedom,  as  well  as  to  Anarchist  publications 
abroad.  His  ideas  may  be  judged  by  the  follow- 
ing phrases  taken  from  one  of  his  writings — 


(^)   CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

"  Law  and  Authority  " — "  Instead  of  inanely 
repeating  the  old  formula,  '  Respect  the  law/ 
we  say,  '  Despise  law  and  all  its  attributes !  ' 
In  place  of  the  cowardly  phrase  *  Obey  the  law,' 
our  cry  is,  '  Revolt  against  all  laws !'.... 
No  more  laws  !  No  more  judges  !  Burn  the 
guillotines  ;  demolish  the  prisons  ;  drive  away 
the  judges,  policemen  and  informers,  the  impurest 
race  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  ;  treat  as  a 
brother  the  man  who  has  been  led  by  passion 
to  do  ill  to  his  brother." 

A  wit  has  said  that  the  profession  of  faith  of 
the  Anarchists  reduces  itself  to  two  articles  of 
a  fantastic  law :  (i)  There  shall  be  nothing. 
(2)  No  one  is  charged  with  carrying  out  the 
above  article.  According  to  the  Manifesto  of 
the  Anarchist-Communist  Alliance,  the  object  of 
Anarchism  is  the  "  paralysation  of  all  existing 
authoritarian  institutions  and  organisations,  the 
prevention  of  new  organisations  of  this  character, 
and  the  expropriation  of  the  rich."  And  it 
further  candidly  confesses  that  "  when  asked 
what  we  intend  to  put  in  their  place  we  reply, 
'  '  Nothing  whatever.'  "  Verily,  to  the  Anarchist, 
all  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit ;  to  him, 
social  reformers  are  "  mere  quacks,  place-hunters, 
etc. ;  "    political  work  is  "  idle  electioneering  ;  " 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    97 

patriotism  and  religion  are  the  "  first  and  last 
refuges  and  strongholds  of  scoundrels ;  "  the 
very  word  "  church  "  is  a  "  disgusting  word  " 
to  the  Anarchist ;  he  has  "  no  belief  in  trade 
unions  ;  "  "  co-operation  is  "  to  him  "  imprac- 
ticable ;  "  while  the  "  meanest  and  most  repulsive 
*  friends '  of  the  workers,"  he  thinks,  "  are  the 
teetotallers  and  advocates  of  thrift  and  saving." 
To-day  there  are  practically  no  purely  English 
Anarchists,  and  the  foreign  element  here  is 
gradually  but  surely  dwindling  and  disappearing. 
This  is  due  largely  to  the  political  branch  of  the 
Criminal  Investigation  Department,  which,  by 
its  elaborate  system  of  espionage,  has  so  es- 
tranged the  "  comrades  "  that  mutual  suspicion 
reigns  among  them,  and  one  "  comrade "  is 
afraid  to  trust  another.  It  may  be  asked.  What 
of  the  English  "  groups "  I  have  spoken  of  ? 
Numbers  of  their  members,  disgusted  with  the 
propaganda  of  violence,  and  convinced  of  the  / 
falsity  of  Anarchy,  have  reverted  to  the  political 
bodies  they,  in  most  cases,  originally  seceded 
from,  namely,  the  various  Socialist  organisations 
throughout  the  country.  Let  no  one  imagine 
that  these  latter  bodies  at  all  favour  revolutionary 
methods.  On  the  contrary,  every  Socialist  now- 
a-days  is  a  constitutional  political  reformer,  who 

G 


98    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

believes  in  achieving  his  ideal  Commonwealth 
through  the  ordinary  channels  of  Parliamentary 
and  municipal  activity. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  Anarchist  "  movement," 
but  I  have  used  the  word  solely  for  convenience* 
sake.  For  the  only  movement  among  the 
Anarchists  here  in  England  is  a  struggle  with 
fast-approaching  dissolution.  What  with  the 
ever-increasing  number  of  seceders  who  desert 
the  party  to  join  the  individualists  or  the  Tol- 
stoyans,  and  the  still  larger  number  who  enlist 
under  the  banner  of  Social  Democracy,  together 
with  the  systematic  police-spying,  the  cessation 
of  the  various  journals  and  the  break-up  of  so 
many  "  groups  *'  and  clubs,  the  Anarchists,  as 
a  party,  are  fast  becoming  defunct.  I  could 
give  a  long  list  of  groups  and  clubs  which  have 
lately  become  non  est.  In  a  year  or  two  Anar- 
chism will  be  as  extinct  in  England  as  the  dodo. 


XI. 

SOME  ANARCHIST  APOSTLES. 

I. — P.  J.  Proudhon. 

Pierre  Joseph  Proudhon  has  been  described 
as  the  "  Father  of  Anarchy."  He  was  born  at 
Besancon  on  the  15th  January,  1809.  His 
writings  and  correspondence,  which,  in  their 
entirety,  fill  no  fewer  than  forty-seven  volumes, 
are  regarded  by  the  Anarchists  as  their  Bible. 

"  What  is  Property  ?  " — Proudhon's  first  great 
work — was  issued  in  1840,  and  created  quite  a 
stir.  The  question  contained  in  the  title  he 
himself  answered  in  the  words  so  often  since 
adopted  as  a  summary  of  their  belief  on  the 
point  by  Anarchists — "  property  is  theft."  In 
1842  his  work,  "  A  Notice  to  Proprietors,"  was 
seized,  and  its  author  summoned  to  the  Assizes 
at  Doubs.  He  read  a  written  defence  to  the 
jurors,   who  acquitted  him. 

In  June,  1848,  Proudhon  was  elected  to  the 
Constituent  Assembly,  as  a  representative  of  the 


100    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

Departement  de  la  SeinCy  in  opposition  to  his 
Anarchist  principles  which  forbade  all  dealings 
with  authority  or  with  the  State.  Proudhon, 
says  Langlois,  "  saw  that  the  Constituent  As- 
sembly was  endangered  by  the  coalition  of*  the 
monarchical  parties  with  Louis  Buonaparte,  who 
was  already  planning  his  coup  d'etat.  He  did 
not  hesitate  to  openly  attack  the  man  who  had 
just  received  5,000,000  of  votes.  He  wanted  to 
break  the  idol ;  he  succeeded  only  in  getting 
prosecuted  and  condemned  himself.  The  prose- 
cution demanded  against  him  was  authorised 
by  a  majority  of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  in 
spite  of  the  speech  which  he  delivered  on  that 
occasion.  Declared  guilty  by  the  jury,  he  was 
sentenced,  in  March,  1849,  to  three  years' 
imprisonment  and  the  pa5mient  of  a  fine  of 
4,000  francs,  which  he  evaded  by  fleeing  to 
Belgium. 

Anarchy,  according  to  Proudhon,  was  the 
culmination  of  social  progress,  and  he  deprecated 
and  violently  condemned  the  existence  of  any 
authority  other  than  a  man's  own  moral  sense. 
"  No  more  parties,"  he  says  ;  "no  more  author- 
ity ;  absolute  liberty  of  the  man  and  the  citizen — 
in  three  words,  such  is  our  political  and  social 
profession    of    faith "    ("  Les    Confessions    d'un 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    loi  > 

Revolutionnaire,"  pp.  25-26).  Such  opinions, 
even  when  put  into  writing,  are  all  very  well  when 
held  in  theory  by  people  possessing  education 
and  a  fair  share  of  ordinary  commonsense,  but 
it  will  at  once  be  seen  that  tremendous  danger 
arises  when  half-educated  men  and  women  of 
the  type  of  modern  Anarchists,  who,  owing  to 
their  own  laziness  or  the  pressure  of  circum- 
stances and  environment,  cherish  a  grievance 
against  society  at  large.  Such  writings,  couched 
in  violent  language,  only  have  the  effect  of 
feeding  the  hatred  of  the  discontented  until 
at  last  they  take  the  revolutionary  statements 
literally,  and  carry  out  in  practice  what  was 
taught  as  a  theory.  The  faith  the  Anarchists 
have  in  Proudhon  and  his  writings  proves  the 
danger  of  such  ideas  being  put  into  circulation 
by  the  educated.  Certainly  there  were  some 
before  Proudhon' s  days  who  preached  the  rotten- 
ness of  society  and  occasionally  hinted  at  the 
desirability  of  a  revolutionary  upheaval,  but 
it  was  Proudhon  who  collated  these  opinions, 
and  enlarged  upon  them  with  results  the 
disastrous  effect  of  which  can  never  be  fully 
known. 

Proudhon   died   near   Paris,   on   the   19th   of 
January,  1865. 


102    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

II. — Michael  Bakounine. 

Michael  Bakounine,  "  founder  of  Nihilism  and 
apostle  of  Anarchy,"  was  born  of  an  ancient 
aristocratic   Russian   family  in   1814.    He  was 
an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Proudhon.    In  Paris, 
in  the  year  1848,  he  delivered  a  public  appeal 
inciting  the  Poles  and  Russians   to    organise  a 
grand  Pan-Slavonic  revolutionary  confederation. 
The    Czar    of    Russia    demanded    Bakounine' s 
expulsion  from  France,  which  was  acceded  to. 
A  reward  of  10,000  roubles  was  next  offered  for 
his  arrest  and  transportation  into  Russian  territory, 
but   the   Revolution   of  February  brought  him 
back  to  France.     However,  he  quickly  quitted 
to  attend  at  the  Congress  of  Slavs.     After  this 
he   went   to   Dresden   and   became   one   of   the 
chiefs  of  the  May  revolution.     Forced  to  fly  from 
Dresden,  he  was  arrested,  sent  to  prison,  and 
condemned  to  death  in  May,  1850,  which  sentence 
was  afterwards  commuted  to  imprisonment  for 
life.     Bakounine  escaped  and  fled  to  Austria,  but 
was  again  arrested  and  sentenced  to  death  for 
high  treason,   which  sentence  was  again  com- 
muted   to    life    imprisonment.     The    Austrian 
Government    finally   handed   him    over   to    the 
Government  of  Russia.     He  was  confined  in  a 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.     103 

fort  for  several  years,  and  finally  banished  to 
Siberia,  from  which  he  managed  to  escape  and 
obtain  passage  to  Japan,  and  from  there  to 
California.  In  i860,  he  alighted,  like  a  thunder- 
bolt, in  London. 

Here  he  assisted  Herzen  and  Ogareff  in  editing 
and   publishing   the   '' KolokoV'    (The   Bell),    a 


Founder  of  Nihilism  and  Apostle  of  Anarchy. 
(From  The  Anarchist.) 

revolutionary  sheet  which  appealed  to  the  Poles 
and  Russians  to  join  hands  in  a  revolutionary 


104    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

confederation.  On  September  28,  1870,  he  orga- 
nised an  insurrection  at  Lyons,  the  failure  of 
which  necessitated  his  flight  to  Geneva.  The 
Paris  Communist  rising  of  1871  is  attributed 
largely  to  the  teaching  and  influence  of  Bakounine. 
Of  the  many  writings  of  Bakounine,    "  God 

f  and  the  State  "  is,  undoubtedly,  the  most  im- 
portant. In  opposition  to  Voltaire's  famous 
phrase,  "  If  God  does  not  exist  it  will  be  necessary 
to  invent  him,"  Bakounine  puts  this  extraordinary 

\  opposite,  "  If  God  exists,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
abolish  him."  His  Anarchistic  sentiments  may 
be  judged  from  the  following  excerpt  from  his 
"  God  and  the  State  "  :  "  In  a  word,  we  reject 
all  legislation,  all  authority,  and  all  privileged, 
licensed,  official,  and  legal  influence,  even  though 
arising  from  universal  suffrage,  convinced  that 
it  can  only  turn  to  the  advantage  of  a  dominant 
minority  of  exploiters  against  the  interests  of 
the  immense  majority  in  subjection  to  them. 
Such  is  the  sense  in  which  we  are  really  Anar- 
chists." 

The  famous  "  Revolutionary  Catechism,"  which 
some  attribute  to  Bakounine,  and  others  to  the 

y  Anarchist  Netschajef,  is  as  follows  :  "  The  Re- 

^      volutionist  is  a  man  under  a  vow  ....  If  he 

continues  to  live  in  this  world,  it  is  only  in  order 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    105 

to  annihilate  it  all  the  more  surely.  A  revo- 
lutionary despises  everything  doctrinaire^  and 
renounces  the  science  and  knowledge  of  the 
world  in  order  to  leave  it  to  future  generations  ; 
he  knows  but  one  science,  that  of  destruction. 
For  that,  and  for  that  only,  he  studies  mechanics, 
physics,  chemistry,  and  even  medicine.  For  the 
same  purpose  he  studies  day  and  night  living 
science — men,  their  character,  positions,  and  all 
the  conditions  of  the  existing  social  order  in  all 
imaginary  spheres.  The  object  remains  always 
the  same ;  the  quickest  and  most  effective  way 
possible  of  destroying  the  existing  order  .... 
For  him  exists  only  one  pleasure,  one  consolation, 
one  reward,  one  satisfaction,  the  reward  of 
revolution.  Day  and  night  he  must  have  but 
one  thought — inexorable  destruction  ....  For 
the  purpose  of  irrevocable  destruction  a  revolu- 
tionist can,  and  may,  often  live  in  the  midst  of 
society,  and  appear  to  have  the  most  complete 
indifference  to  his  surroundings.  A  revolutionist 
may  penetrate  everywhere ;  into  high  society, 
among  the  nobility,  among  shopkeepers,  into  the 
military,  official  or  literary  world,  into  the  '  third 
section '  (the  secret  police),  and  even  into  the 
Imperial  Palace."  y" 
The    Catechism    divides  society  into   several 


y 


(Hk^ 


io6    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

categories  ;    those  in  the  first  of  these  categories 
are  condemned  to  death  without   delay.     "  In 
the  first  place  we  must  put  out  of  the  world  those 
which  stand  most  in  the  way  of  the  revolutionary 
organisation  and  its  work."     The  members   of 
the  second  category  are  to  be  allowed  to  live 
"  provisionally  "  in  order  that  "  by  a  series  of 
abominable   deeds   they   may   drive   the   people 
into    unceasing   revolt."     The   third   class,    the 
rich  and  influential,  must  be  exploited,  for  the 
sake  of   the   revolution,   and   made   to   become 
"  our  slaves."     With  the  fourth  class,  of  Liberals 
of  various  shades  of  opinion,  arrangements  must 
be   made    on   the   basis    of    their   programme ; 
they   must   be  initiated  and  compromised,  and 
made    use    of     for     the    perturbation    of    the 
State.     The  fifth   class,    the   doctrinaires,    must 
be     urged     forward,     while     the     sixth     and 
most   important    class   consists   of  the   women, 
for    making    use    of    whom,    for    revolutionary 
purposes,     the    Revolutionary   Catechism   gives 
explicit  directions. 


Bakounine  died  at  Berne,  in  Switzerland,  on 
July  2,  1876. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.     107 
III. — Elis^e  Reclus. 

Although  a  leader  of  Anarchism  in  France,  is  also 
a  professor  of  geography  at  the  Brussels  Free  Univer- 
sity. He  is  the  author  of  a  gigantic  work  entitled, 
"The  Earth  and  its  Inhabitants,"  for  which  he 
has  been  decorated  by  a  French  scientific  society. 

A  revolutionist  by  nature,  he  took  part  in  the 
Paris  Communist  Insurrection  of  1871,  and  was 
taken  prisoner.  Imprisoned  for  some  time  on 
the  convict  ships  in  Brest  Harbour,  he  was 
ultimately  released  at  the  instance  of  an  inter- 
national appeal  of  men  of  science.  His  Anarchist 
writings  are  not  many,  but  they  have  been 
translated   into   several   languages. 

Elie  Reclus,  brother  of  Elis6e  and  librarian  of 
the  National  Library  under  the  Commune,  is  also 
an  Anarchist  and  an  ethnologist  of  high  repute, 
and  is  employed  in  scientific  work  by  the  pub- 
lishing house  of  Hachette  &  Co. 

Elisee  Reclus  was  once  asked,  as  an  educated 
man,  to  condemn  the  violence  of  his  uneducated 
associates.  "  Condemn  the  propaganda  by  deed," 
he  asks,  "  but  what  is  this  propaganda  except 
the  preaching  of  well-doing  and  love  of  humanity 
by  example  ?  Those  who  call  the  *  propaganda 
by  deed '  acts  of  violence  prove  that  they  have 


io8    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

not  understood  the  meaning  of  this  expression. 
The  Anarchist  who  understands  his  part,  instead 
of  massacring  somebody  or  other,  will  ex- 
clusively strive  to  bring  this  person  round  to  his 
opinions,  and  to  make  of  him  an  adept  who, 
in  his  turn,  will  make  '  propaganda  of  deed  * ; 
by  showing  himself  good  and  just  to  all  those 
whom  he  may  meet."  This  same  Elisee  Reclus 
was  asked  by  the  editor  of  the  Sempre  Avanti 
his  true  opinion  of  Ravachol,  the  Anarchist 
scoundrel  who  lived  by  thieving,  coining,  robbing 
graves,  and  who  ended  up  under  the  guillotine 
for  murdering  an  old  man  in  order  to  get  his 
money.  "  I  admire  his  courage,"  says  Reclus ; 
"  his  goodness  of  heart,  his  greatness  of  soul, 
the  generosity  with  which  he  pardons  his  enemies, 
or  rather,  his  betrayers.  I  hardly  know  of  any 
men  who  have  surpassed  him  in  nobleness  of 
conduct.  I  reserve  the  question  as  to  how  far 
it  is  always  desirable  to  push  to  extremities  one's 
,  own  right,  and  whether  other  considerations 
^  moved  by  a  spirit  of  human  solidarity  ought  not 
to  prevail.  Still,  I  am  none  the  less  one  of  those 
who  recognise  in  Ravachol  a  hero  of  a  mag- 
nanimity but  little  common."* 

*  Quoted  from    the  Twentieth   Century ^   New   York, 
September,  1892,  p,  15. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    109 
IV. — Prince  Kropotkin. 

Prince  Pierre  Alexeivitch  Kropotkin  was  born 
in  Moscow  in  1842.  He  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  men  of  the  day  !  A  man  of  high 
ideals,  of  infinite  fortitude  and  courage,  and 
brilliant  intellectual  parts,  he  can  find  no  home 
in  his  native  Russia,  but  is  driven  forth  to  seek 
asylum  among  strangers.  He  has  known  the 
misery  of  captivity  in  gaol  as  well  as  the  bitterness 
of  expulsion  from  home  !  Arrested  in  1874  for 
secretly  propagating  his  principles  in  Russia, 
he  spent  two  years  and  a  half  in  the  Peter  and 
Paul  fortress  without  a  trial,  but  afterwards 
escaped  to  England.  He  was  expelled  from 
Switzerland  for  participation  in  the  London 
International  Congress  of  1881  ;  arrested  in 
France  in  the  autumn  of  1882,  and  tried  at 
Lyons  in  January,  1883,  for  belonging  to  an 
"  association  of  malefactors,'*  was  sentenced  to 
five  years'  imprisonment ;  was  released  early 
in  1886,  left  France,  and  has  since  resided  in 
England.  He  lives  at  Bromley,  in  Kent,  where, 
after  his  writings,  bookbinding  and  carpentry 
are  his  recreations.  It  may  surprise  students 
of  the  Encyclopcedia  Britannica  and  Chambers's 
Encyclopaedia  to  learn  that  in  the    former   the 


no    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 


article  on  Russia,  and  in  the  latter,  those  on 
Russia,  Asia,  and  France,  are  from  the  pen  of 
Prince  Kropotkin.  He  is  sixty  years  of  age 
now ;  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  London 
Anarchist  journal  Freedom,  as  well  as  to  various 
continental  Anarchist  journals,  and  a  well-known 
figure  in  London  Anarchist  circles. 

V. — Amilcare  Cipriani. 

A  man  of  action  rather  than  of  theory,  Amilcare 
Cipriani,  the  Italian  Anarchist,  has  spent  nearly 
twenty-five  years  in 
prison.  In  1861, 
1862,  1866,  and 
1869  he  took  part 
in  the  Mazzini  and 
Garibaldi  insurrec- 
tions in  Italy. 
After  the  disaster 
of  Aspromonte  in 
1862,  doubly  a  de- 
serter and  rebel  (for 
he  had  twice  left 
his  regiment  to  join 
Garibaldi),  Cipriani 
had  to  leave  the 
country  as  best  he  might,  his  revolutionary  instincts 


Amilcare  Cipriani. 
(From  Freedom.) 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST,    iii 

turning  him  to  the  troubles  of  Greece,  where  he 
threw  himself  energetically  into  the  insurrection, 
and  finally  shared  the  fate  of  exile  with  those 
whose  cause  he  had  taken  up.  We  find  him 
next  in  Eg5rpt,  organising  the  "  Society  Demo- 
cratica  Italiana  *'  among  the  Italian  residents 
in  Alexandria,  and  gathering  around  himself 
youthful  enthusiasm  into  a  "  Falange  Sacra," 
who  held  themselves  in  readiness  for  a  call  from 
Garibaldi.  After  returning  to  Italy  to  help  in 
the  '66  fight,  he  joined  in  the  insurrection  of 
Crete,  and  enrolled  himself  among  the  "  rebel 
band "  of  Zimbrakakis.  It  was  here  he  met 
Flourens,  with  whom  he  afterwards  worked  in 
the  Paris  Commune.  When  the  struggle  in 
Crete  was  suppressed,  Flourens  was  arrested 
and  handed  over  to  the  care  of  the  French 
police,  and  Cipriani  took  refuge  again  in  Alexan- 
dria, where  certain  incidents  took  place  which 
led  to  his  condemnation  to  penal  servitude  by 
the  Italian  Government.  In  Egypt  Cipriani 
was  the  representative  of  Dervieux  &  Co.,  the 
great  bankers.  He  was  invited  one  night  to  a 
supper  party  of  his  own  "  comrades,"  where  a 
dispute  arose  which  became  of  a  violent  nature. 
Some  of  the  "  comrades,"  thinking  he  had  money, 
attacked  him  and  demanded  that  money.    Cipriani 


112    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

was  forced  to  save  himself  against  the  aggression 
of  his  friends,  and  in  so  doing  mortally  wounded 
one  of  them,  an  Italian  named  Santini.  Whilst 
trying  to  escape  from  his  dangerous  position, 
he  was  surrounded  by  zaptiehs  (police),  and 
was  on  the  point  of  being  arrested,  but  he  re- 
sisted, and  as  they  used  their  arms,  he  forced 
his  way  through  them  by  shooting  at  them  and 
killing  one.  Having  escaped,  he  took  refuge  in 
the  interior  of  Egypt,  where  he  lived  for  some 
time  under  a  false  name.  He  succeeded  in 
embarking  for  and  reaching  London,  where  he 
was  a  photographer  for  some  time.  On  Septem- 
ber 4,  1870,  when  the  French  Republic  was 
proclaimed,  he  joined  the  first  battalion  of  the 
National  Guards,  together  with  Flourens.  On 
October  31  of  the  same  year  and  January  21, 
187 1,  he  was  one  of  the  chief  participators  in  the 
unsuccessful  attempts  made  in  Paris  to  capture 
the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  to  drive  out  the  Provisional 
Government.  On  March  18,  and  after,  Cipriani 
fought  for  the  Paris  Commune.  He  raised  the 
Battalions  of  Belleville  (the  most  revolutionary 
part  of  Paris),  which  was  commanded  by  Flourens, 
whose  aide-de-camp  he  was,  and  whose  devoted 
friend  he  had  become  whilst  fighting  for  the 
liberty  of  the  Cretans.     In  the  last  sortie  made 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.     113 

by    the    Communists    towards    Mont    Val6rien, 
Flourens,    deceived    by    a    Versailles    spy,    was 
treacherously  killed.     Cipriani,  in  defending  him, 
was  seriously  wounded  and  afterwards  carried 
to  Versailles,  where  a  court-martial  condemned 
him  to  be  shot.     His  wound  saved  his  life  ;  for 
the  five  soldiers  who  were  to  be  shot  with  him 
arrived  at  Satory  before  Cipriani  could  be  lifted 
from  his  bed  and  carried  to  the  place  of  execution. 
At  the  moment  they  were  taking  him  down  from 
the  cart  to  be  led  before  the  platoon  which  was 
to  shoot  him,  a  messenger  from  Thiers  arrived 
with   orders   to   put    off   the   execution.       For 
eighteen  months  he  was  kept  in  solitary  confine- 
ment.    Tried  a  second  time  by  court-martial, 
he  was   condemned   to   transportation   to   New 
Caledonia  for  life.     On  the  transport  boat,  "  La 
Dana6,"  he  showed  his  usual  rebellious  spirit  in 
resisting    orders.     He    was    condemned   by   the 
admiral  to  seventy  days' imprisonment  in  a  cell, 
with  nothing  but  bread  and  water,  for  refusing 
to  clean  the  floor.    In  New  Caledonia   it   was 
the  same.    He  was  condemned  to  three  years' 
hard  labour  for  having  denounced  an  order  of 
the  Governor  of  the  island.     On  his  return  to 
Paris,  after  the  amnesty,  he  was  expelled  from 
France,  on  January  i,  1881,  whence  he  returned 

n 


114    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

to  Italy.  He  was  arrested  at  Rimini  on  a  charge 
of  revolutionary  conspiracy,  and  taken  to  Milan. 
There  he  was  kept  in  prison  until  an  amnesty 
came  granting  his  release.  He  was,  however, 
immediately  re-arrested  and  sentenced  to  twenty- 
five  years'  hard  labour  for  the  affair  in  Alexandria. 
He  was  released  in  1888,  in  consequence  of  the 
great  popular  agitation  in  his  favour — nine  times 
during  his  imprisonment  was  he  elected  as 
deputy,  though,  as  an  Anarchist,  he  declined 
to  take  his  seat  in  Parliament  on  his  liberation. 
In  Rome,  189 1,  he  was  sentenced  to  two  years' 
imprisonment  for  his  part  in  the  May  Day  riots 
of  that  year,  when  a  planned  insurrection  was 
frustrated  only  by  the  presence  of  25,000  troops. 
Over  500  Anarchists  were  arrested  on  this  occasion. 
During  the  last  Greco-Turkish  War  Cipriani  re- 
ceived several  wounds;  and  in  1900  offered  to 
raise  a  regiment  of  volunteers  to  fight  on  behalf 
of  the  Boers,  but  his  offer  was  not  accepted. 

VI. — Carlo  Cafiero. 

Carlo  Cafiero  was  one  of  the  most  energetic 
and  revolutionary  of  Italian  Anarchists,  and  an 
intimate  associate  of  Michael  Bakounine,  the 
founder  of  Nihilism.  Born  of  a  rich  family  in 
Barletta,  he  was  educated  at  a  Catholic  seminary 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    115 

and  at  the  University  of  Naples,  and  intended 
for  a  diplomatic  career.  Whilst  still  quite 
young,  he  inherited  a  large  fortune  from  his 
parents.  Nevertheless,  he  became  a  convinced 
Anarchist,  threw  up  his  profession,  and  left 
Florence,  the  then  capital  of  Italy,  for  London, 
where  he  gave  himself  up  to  the  study  of  revolu- 
tionary doctrines.  His  wealth  was  henceforth 
given  up  to  the  cause  of  Anarchism.  In  1873 
he  joined  the  International,  and  with  Bakounine 
formed  an  active  propagandist  centre  in  Switzer- 
land. In  1874  he  took  part  in  the  Bologna 
insurrection,  and  afterwards,  with  Malatesta  and 
thirty-five  other  Anarchists,  took  active  share  in 
organising  the  armed  revolt  at  Benevento.  He 
was  captured,  and,  after  seventeen  months' 
imprisonment,  went  to  France,  was  expelled, 
and  eventually  returned  to  Italy.  Already  in 
bad  health,  he  was  again  imprisoned,  and  con- 
signed to  solitary  confinement,  from  the  effects 
of  which  he  never  recovered.  Shortly  after  his 
release  he  became  hopelessly  insane,  and  finally 
ended  his  days  in  a  madhouse. 

VII. — Emma  Goldman. 

The  "  High  Priestess  of  Anarchy  in  America," 
as  she  is  called,  is  Emma  Goldman,  whose  speeches 


ii6    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

it  is  said,  incited  the  Anarchist  Czolgosz  in  his 
attack  on  President  McKinley.  She  was  born 
in  Russia,  but  educated  in  Germany.  Eight 
years  ago  Emma  Goldman  was  sent  to  prison 
for  ten  months  in  New  York  for  her  incentives 
to  violence.  She  is  exceedingly  popular  among 
the  American  Anarchists.  Her  almost  masculine 
face,  adorned  with  pince-nez,  her  plain  black 
dress,  often  with  red  ribbon  at  the  neck,  her 
peculiar  half-closed  eyes,  are  familiar  to  the 
"  groups." 

She  has  spent  the  greater  part  of  her  life  in 
America  ;  while  she  has  also  visited  England  and 
addressed  audiences  in  London.  All  her  family 
were  orthodox,  but,  commencing  as  an  ardent 
Radical,  she  was  converted  to  Anarchism  by  the 
hanging  of  the  Chicago  Anarchists  in  1887.  She 
says  of  herself  :  "  I  have  since  led  strikes  and 
done  everything  I  could  for  the  people.  I  am 
a  member  of  no  group.  I  believe  only  in  indi- 
vidual freedom  and  responsibility  as  the  true 
basis  of  Anarchy." 

The  writer  attended  her  lectures  in  London. 
She  ridiculed  the  ideas  and  methods  of  Socialism, 
and  upheld  the  theory  of  violence.  As  an  orator 
she  is  neither  original  nor  even  effective,  and 
leaves  her  audience  quite  unimpressed.  Whatever 


J 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    117 

she  is  as  an  orator,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
her  writings  are  followed  with  a  great  deal  of 
interest  by  the  men  and  women  who  share  her 
opinions.  She  has  just  married  (I  use  the  word 
"  married "  for  want  of  the  Anarchistic  sub- 
stitute) Alexander  Berkmann,  the  Russian  Jew 
Anarchist  who  shot  Mr.  Carnegie's  manager  in 
1892,  and  her  association  with  him — "  martyr  " 
as  he  is  regarded  as  being — lends  to  her  position 
in  Anarchists'  affections  a  force  which  her  teach- 
ings and  personality  alone  could  not  inspire. 

VIII.— Louis  Lingg. 

One  of  the  Chicago  "  martyrs,"  who,  con- 
demned to  death  for  complicity  in  the  bomb 
throwing  of  1886,  committed  suicide  in  jail  by 
means  of  a  cigar  loaded  with  dynamite. 

Louis  Lingg  was  born  in  Mannheim,  Germany, 
in  1864.  His  father  was  employed  as  a  lumber- 
man, his  mother  did  laundry  work.  Life  was 
pleasant  enough  to  young  Lingg  in  his  boyhood 
days,  but  when  his  father  met  with  an  accident 
at  his  work  which  ruined  his  health,  hunger 
and  want  were  soon  experienced  in  the  family, 
despite  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the  mother  to 
keep  the  home  going.  The  harsh  treatment 
his    father    received   from    his    master   created 


ii8    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 


in  Lingg's  heart  a  hatred  of  capitalists 
which  speedily  turned  his  energies  in  the  direc- 
tion of  revolutionary  propaganda. 

Meanwhile,  having 
served  his  appren- 
ticeship as  a  car- 
penter, Lingg  left 
home  for  the  United 
States,  in  1885.  He 
went  to  Chicago, 
joined  the  union  of 
his  trade,  and  be- 
came one  of  the 
chief  organisers  of 
the  eight  hours 
movement.  He  had 
an  ardent  belief  that 
the  great  revolu- 
tionary struggle  between  capital  and  labour 
was  close  at  hand,  and  that  the  people 
needed  arms  to  fight  those  in  authority.  He 
therefore  studied  explosives,  and  made  a 
supply  of  bombs  to  be  ready  in  case  of  need. 
His  figure  stands  apart  somewhat  from  those 
of  the  other  real  martyrs — Parsons,  Spies, 
Fischer,  and  Engel — with  whom  he  was 
very    slightly    acquainted,    or   not    acquainted 


Louis  Lingg. 
(From  Freedom.) 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    119 

at  all,  until  they  met  in  the  dock.     They  were 
propagandists  ;  he  a  man  of  action. 

Addressing  the  Court,  in  answer  to  the  Judge's 
question  as  to  why  sentence  of  death  should  not 
be  pronounced  upon  him,  he  defiantly  concluded 
his  speech  with  the  following  :  "I  have  told 
Captain  Schaak  (chief  of  the  police)  and  I  stand 
by  it,  *  If  you  cannonade  us,  we  shall  dyna- 
mite you ! '  You  laugh !  Perhaps  you  think 
*  You'll  throw  no  more  bombs  ! '  But  let  me 
assure  you  that  I  die  happy  on  the  gallows,  so 
confident  am  I  that  the  hundreds  and  thousands 
to  whom  I  have  spoken  will  remember  me,  and 
when  you  shall  have  hanged  us,  then,  mark  my 
words,  They  will  do  the  bomb-throwing  !  In  this 
hope  do  I  say  to  you,  '  I  despise  you ;  I  despise 
your  order,  your  laws,  your  force-propped  autho- 
rity !    Hang   me   for   it  ! '  " 

IX. — Louise  Michel. 

Louise  Michel,  who  has  been  variously  styled 
the  "  Joan  of  Arc  of  Anarchism "  and  the 
"  Red  Virgin  of  the  Commune,"  started  life  as 
a  devout  young  school-teacher  in  a  French 
village. 

She  went  to  Paris,  became  a  Communist,  and, 


120    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

dressed  in  the  uniform  of  the  National  Guard, 
and  armed  with   a  carbine,   she  led  bands  of 
Communists    at    the    barricades    in    1871.    She 
sacrificed  her  liberty  to  save  her  mother,  whom 
the  soldiers  had  arrested.    At  the  subsequent 
court-martial,    where    many    of   her    co-revolu- 
tionists were  condemned  to  execution,   Louise 
Michel  cried  defiantly,  "  You  would  sentence  me 
to  death  ?    You  dare  not !    You  are  afraid  lest 
I  should  show  before  your  rifles  more  courage 
than   you   showed   before   the   Prussian   shot." 
The  verdict  was  imprisonment  for  life.     When 
in  St.  Lazare  Prison,  this  woman  of  contradicting 
and  warring  moods  deprived  herself  of  food  for 
days  together  so  that  the  other  prisoners  might 
have  it.    She  was  later  deported  to  the  penal 
settlement  of  New  Caledonia. 

After  the  lapse  of  a  few  years  the  woman 
revolutionary  received  her  liberty.  M.  Rochefort 
was  at  the  railway  station  to  welcome  her  back 
to  Paris.  "  Take  care,"  she  exclaimed,  as  he 
embraced  her  ;  "  do  not  suffocate  the  little  blind 
cat  I  have  in  my  pocket."  The  animal  had 
been  her  companion  throughout  the  long 
voyage. 

Some  years  later  Louise  Michel  lived  in  London, 
where,  for  some  time,  she  conducted  a  school 


Louise  Michel, 
The  "Red  Virgin"  of  the  Commune. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    121 

in  Fitzroy  Square,  Soho,  for  the  children  of 
Anarchists.  Based  entirely  on  Anarchist  prin- 
ciples, the  school  was,  of  course,  a  failure.  In 
a  not  very  large  room  Louise  and  two  or  three 
others  attempted  to  teach  simultaneously  several 
different  subjects.  Ordinary  notions  of  school 
discipline  received  scant  attention.  The  funda- 
mental Anarchist  principle  of  individual  liberty 
for  all  and  everyone  was  here  carried  out  in  its 
fulness.  The  teachers  did  try  to  teach,  but  the 
boys  and  girls  could  not  possibly  learn  or  even 
hear  anything,  for  the  children  moved  about 
in  the  room,  talked  and  shouted,  or  sat  quietly 
just  as  they  pleased.  While  in  one  part  of 
the  room  the  teachers  tried  to  attract  their 
pupils  to  lessons  of  arithmetic,  or  other  subjects, 
Louise  herself  gave  them  practical  lessons  in 
piano  playing,  the  children  surrounding  her, 
climbing  on  chairs,  and  even  on  her  shoulders ; 
the  general  noise  being  so  great  that  nobody 
could  be  heard  at  all  by  either  teacher  or  pupil. 
Two  or  three  "  comrades  "  stood  about  also  in 
the  room,  usually,  discussing  and  gesticulating, 
adding  to  the  general  disorder. 

A  feature  of  Louise  Michel's  character  was  her 
great  love  for  the  poor,  to  whom  she  practically 
devoted  her  life  and  her  meagre  earnings. 


122    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

X       Among  her  notable  sayings  were  the  following — 
"  What  is  human  life  when  great  ideas  are 
at  stake  ?    The  killing  of  a  few  means  the 
emancipation  of  many." 

"A  revolution  in  Russia  may  begin  the 
great  movement  of  progress  in  the  world.'* 

"  People  are  learning  that  this  is  not  a  time 

for  killing ;     but  for  life,  for  work,  for  art, 

for  science,  for  fraternity." 

Asked  what  she  would  do  if  the  Presidency  of 

the  French  Republic  were  offered  her,  she  replied  : 

"  I    should   accept   it   for   twenty-four   hours — 

just  long  enough  to  empty  all  the  banks  and  all 

the  prisons."    She  finished  her  stormy  career  at 

Marseilles  on  January  9,  1905. 


XII. 
ANARCHIST  PRECEPTS. 

1,  Repudiation  of  just  debts, — "  We  do  not  look 
forward  to  a  revolt  in  the  future,  but  a  revolt 
to-day — a  revolt  from  the  moment  we  become 
Anarchists.  We  know  that  all  men  can  revolt 
by  refusing  rent  to  landlords  ;  by  refusing  pay- 
ment to  shopkeepers  whose  goods  we  take  when 
we  want  them  ;  by  refusing  to  be  married  before 
the  law,  and  by  many  other  means."  (Cyril 
Bell,  in  Freedom,  December,  1891.) 

2.  Stealing  a  virtue. — "  Tortellier,  Brunet, 
Faure,  and  Devertus  approved  of  stealing  from 
the  rich  as  a  method  of  carrying  on  the  social 
war  ....  Madame  Elise  read  a  paper  on 
*  Theft,'  which  she  thought  only  justifiable  for 
propaganda  purposes.  There  must  be,  she  said, 
some  Anarchist  principles  and  morals.  Comrade 
Ridoux,  an  individualist,  affirmed,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  Anarchy  is  a  negation  of  morals  and  prin- 
ciples." (From  Report  of  International  Anarchist 
Congress,  Paris,  1889,  in  Freedom,  October,  1889.) 


124     CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

J  3.  Duty  a  curse. — "  To  do  one's  duty  is  not 
only  to  degrade  one's  self;  it  is  to  insult  one's 
fellow-men.  Duty  is  as  contemptuous  as  sin- 
cerity is  respectful.  To  do  one's  duty  by  others 
is  to  treat  them  as  on  a  lower  level  than  one's 
self  ....  to  pass  them  counterfeit  coin  .... 
one  of  the  curses  of  our  civilization  of  shams." 
(Freedom,  March,  1887.) 

4.  "  Z)o    as   you   pleased — "  That    Anarchism 
^  has  such  a  vague  and  at  times  an  unhealthy 

form  in  the  minds  of  some  people  calling  them- 
selves Anarchists  ....  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at.  That  some  people  should  be  drawn  to  it 
who  see  in  some  of  the  phrases  used  by  Anarchist 
orators  and  writers  a  justification  of  their  own 
meanness  and  selfishness  is  not  to  be  very  much 
wondered  at.  They  think  of  the  good  time 
coming  as  one  when  each  shall  be  able  to  wallow 
in  the  filth  of  their  own  selfishness,  and  do 
'  as  they  bloody-well  please '  .  .  .  .  because, 
there  shall  be  no  laws."  (James  Brown,  in 
Freedom,  July,  1893.) 

5.  Stopping  trains  for  purposes  of  plunder, — 
"  The  existence  of  one  Anarchist  has  more  value 
than  a  thousand  bourgeois,  and  he  (the  Anarchist) 
will  not  hesitate  in  stopping  trains  and  plundering 
the  wealthy  passengers  of  their  money,  to  carry 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    125 

on  propaganda  by  deed,  as  comrades  Pini,  Duval, 
and  Reinsdorf  understood  it.  Either  society  is 
right  and  we  must  submit  to  its  laws,  or  it  is 
wrong,  and  in  that  case  let  us  fight  it,  not  with 
manifestoes  and  songs,  but  with  anything  the 
individual  may  think  best  to  strike  terror  in  the 
brains  and  bodies  of  the  usurpers  of  our  freedom." 
(Commonweal,    December   5,    1891.) 

6.  The  Gospel  of  "  take,'' — "  England  and 
Spain  are  the  only  countries  in  Europe  where 
Anarchists  are  not  expelled.  Foreign  Anarchists 
are  allowed  to  starve  in  those  countries,  unless 
they  have  pluck  enough  to  expropriate  the  big 
robbers.  This  is  what  most  of  our  comrades  do 
on  stepping  on  Spanish  soil.  What  would  be  im- 
practicable in  England — poaching  collectively — 
is  easily  done  there  on  account  of  the  scattered 
population  and  the  police  being  badly  paid. 
Our  comrades  there,  on  the  tramp,  have  always 
back  numbers  of  El  Productor  and  La  Anarquia, 
which  they  give  freely  in  return  for  the  food 
and  clothing  they  take."  (Commonweal y  Decem- 
ber 12,  1891.) 

"  The  Italian  comrades  refuse  to  work  to 
benefit  capitalists  ....  Hunger  has  taught  them 
not  to  work  but  to  plunder  their  old  masters, 
and  this  has  two  good  results ;  it  shows  us  a 


126    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

good  example  and  accustoms  us  to  the  doctrine 
of  TAKE.  We  learn  also  how  to  do  without 
masters."  (Commonweal,  September  5,  1891.) 
vy'  7.  Murder  justifiable. — "  Bread  or  lead  was 
the  question  put  by  Rutzerveld  to  his  master, 
who  had  sacked  him  for  being  an  Anarchist. 
This  happened  in  Sclessin  in  a  mining  district. 
His  master  even  refused  to  pay  him  for  the 
work  he  had  done  and  told  him  to  go  to  the 
law  courts.  Rutzerfeld  went  not  to  the  law 
courts,  but  to  a  gunsmith,  took  a  revolver,  and 
went  back  to  meet  his  tyrant,  and  fired  three 
shots  in  succession,  one  shot  hitting  the  boss  in 
the  head.  He  is  not  quite  dead ;  yet  if  he 
recovers  it  will  not  be  our  comrade's  fault,  for 
he  said  when  arrested,  '  I  am  only  sorry  I  did  not 
finish  him ! ' "     (Commonweal,  November  7, 1891.) 

8.  ^^  An  Example.'' — "  Thus  finished  another 
stage  in  the  career  of  a  man  who  has  shaken 
capitalism  to  its  foundations,  and  shown  the 
workers  an  example  worthy  of  emulation  .  .  .  We 
are  anxiously  awaiting  the  advent  of  some  English 
Ravachols."*     (Commonweal,  July  2,  1892.) 

*  Ravachol  was  the  Anarchist  scoundrel  who 
lived  by  thieving,  counterfeit-coining,  grave  robbing, 
and  who  ended  up  under  the  guillotine  for  killing  an 
old  man  in  order  to  get  his  money. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    127 

"  We  say  that  the  individual  acts  have  always 
been  a  success.  The  men  who  strangled  Watrin 
(a  mine-owner  in  France  whose  men  were  on 
strike),  Pini,  who  robbed  the  banks,  have  opened 
more  eyes  than  all  the  pamphlet  writers  in  a 
century.  Our  aims  can  only  be  attained  by 
accumulated  individual  actions  against  property 
and  the  men  who  hold  it."  (Commonweal y 
December  19,  1891.) 

9.  Abortion. — "  Why  should  not  women,  even 
when  they  are  not  in  a  weak  state  of  health  .... 
and  do  not  dread  the  physical  pain  of  child- 
birth, abort,  if  they  choose  to  do  so  ?  How,  in 
such  a  case,  can  the  interference  of  judges,  as 
representative  of  society — that  rotten  abstrac- 
tion— be  justified  ?  .  .  .  .  Wretched  women ;  be 
sterile  ;  close  your  wombs  ;  abort !  "  (From 
The  Torch  of  Anarchy,  December  18,  1895.) 

10.  The  bomb  for  working-men. — "  *  The  masses 
are  brutalised  ;  we  must  force  our  ideas  on  them 
by  violence.'  '  One  has  the  right  to  kill  those 
who  preach  theories.'  '  The  masses  allow  us 
to  be  oppressed ;  let  us  revenge  ourselves  on 
the  masses.'  *  The  more  workers  one  kills  the 
fewer  slaves  remain.'  Such  are  the  ideas  current 
in  certain  Anarchist  circles.  And,  an  Anar- 
chist review,  in  a  controversy  on  the  different 


128    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

tendencies  of  the  Anarchist  movement,  replied  to 
a  comrade  with  this  unanswerable  argument, 
*  There  will  be  bombs  for  you  also.'  '*  (From 
The  Torch  of  Anarchy,  April  i8,  1895.) 

11.  "  Blacklegging^  —  "  We  proclaim  the 
maxim  '  Do  as  you  please.'  Therefore,  the 
non-unionists  have  a  right  to  work,  and  you 
establish  the  rights  of  blacklegs  on  a  logical 
and  scientific  basis  ....  TL^'  blackleg  is 
entirely  within  his  liberty,  and,  consequently, 
those  persons  are  exceeding  their  liberty  who 
attempt  to  interfere  with  his."  {Freedom^ 
December,  1891.) 

12.  Might  is  Right. — "  Whoever  has  might, 
has  right ;  if  you  have  not  the  former  you  have 
not  the  latter."  (Max  Stirner,  "  Der  Einzige 
und  sein  Eigenthum,"  2nd  ed.,  Leipzig,  1882, 
pp.   196-197.) 

"The   strong   must    ever    rule    the   weak,    is   grim 

primordial  law — 
On  earth's  broad  racial  threshing  floor,  the  meek 

are  beaten  straw — 
Then  ride  to  Power  o'er  foemen's  necks ;  let  nothing 

bar  your  way. 
If  you  are  fit  you'll  rule  and  reign,  is  the  logic  of 

to-day  " — Ragnar  Redbeard, 

"  So  far  as  inherent  right  is  concerned,  might 
is  its  only  measure.    Any  man,   be  his  name 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.     129 

Bill~Sykes  or  Alexander  Romanoff,  or  any  set 
of  men,  whether  the  Chinese  highbinders  or  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  have  the  right, 
if  they  have  the  power,  to  kill  or  coerce  other  men 
and  to  make  the  entire  world  subservient  to 
their  ends.  Society's  right  to  enslave  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  individual's  right  to  enslave 
society  are  unequal  only  because  their  powers  are 
unequal."  (iSenj.  R.  Tucker,  in  Liberty,  New 
York,  November  15,  1890.) 

"  The  natural  law  concerning  possessions  is 
this  :  '  That  they  should  take  who  have  the 
power,  and  they  should  keep  who  can.'  "  (Free- 
dom, August,  1889.) 

13.  Opposed  to  all  organisation, — "  It  is  per-    \/ 
fectly  true  that  there  exists  a  large  number  of 
Anarchists  who  do  not  believe  in  representation 

or  organisation  of  any  kind,  and  who  declare  that 
no  individual  can  represent  or  act  for  any  other 
under  any  circumstances.  This  position  is  a 
perfectly  logical  one."  (From  The  Torch  of 
Anarchy,  October  18,  1895.) 

14.  "  Expropriation."" — "  Another   brave   deed 

of  expropriation  has  been  committed  by  comrade       / 
Conway,   who  broke  a  large  jeweller's  window 
and  tried  to  make  off  with  £420  worth  of  diamond 
rings.     He  conducted  himself  very  defiantly  in 

I 


130    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

court  ....  The  only  pity  is  that  he  didn't 
succeed,  as  the  movement  is  very  hard  up  at 
present."  (Torch  of  Anarchy,  September,  1893.) 
15.  Strike  Tactics. — "  At  this  moment  (April, 
1895)  there  are  200,000  shoemakers  locked  out 
of  work.  Instead  of  stopping  at  home  and 
starving,  or  of  parading  the  streets  like  wild 
beasts  on  show,  they  ought  to  enter  quietly  into 
their  respective  factories  and  workshops,  and 
then  send  the  employers  their  ultimatum.  Natur- 
ally the  masters  will  reject  it,  and  then,  what 
could  be  easier  than  to  cut  up  a  skin  ready 
tanned  for  use  ?  What  could  be  more  amusing 
than  to  place  a  piece  of  iron  under  a  sewing 
machine  and  thus  destroy  it ;  or  to  forget  a 
file  in  a  cog-wheel,  or  to  riddle  with  holes  the 
uppers  of  boots  laid  aside  ready  for  use  ?  What 
can  be  more  enjoyable  for  a  father  than  to  carve 
toys  for  his  children  out  of  the  wooden  lasts 
on  which  he  makes  boots  for  the  employer  who 
starves  him  ?  What  can  sound  pleasanter  to 
the  ear  of  a  striker  than  stones  whizzing  through 
his  workshop  windows  ?  And  we  feel  sure  that 
if  the  strikers  made  up  their  minds  that  the 
employers  must  give  way  on  the  very  first  day 
of  the  strike,  under  penalty  of  having  their 
machinery,  their  tools,  their  stock,  in  a  word, 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    131 

their  whole  capital,  destroyed,  strikes  would 
not  drag  on  month  after  month,"  etc.  (Torch 
of  Anarchy y  April  18,  1895.)  / 

16.  The  "  Revolution.''  — "  We  revolutionists,  ^ 
knowing  that  other  means  than  violence  are 
neither  possible  nor  practical,  frequently  think 
about  the  Revolution,  and  frequently  talk  about 
it.  .  .  We  know  that  we  must  disorganise  pres- 
ent society — break  the  wheels  on  which  it  now 
moves — and  make  it  impossible  to  reconstitute 
it.  Thus  we  know  that  all  our  forces  must  be 
directed  towards  the  attack — to  the  destruction 
of  legal  archives,  the  register  of  national  revenue, 
the  banks  and  the  prefectures ;  we  know  that 
during  the  fight  the  register  of  the  public  debt, 
etc.,  must  disappear ;  all  that  goes  to  establish, 
regulate,  and  register  rent,  capital  and  property. 
We  know  also  that  by  setting  the  example  our- 
selves in  expropriation,  we  must  initiate  the 
masses  to  seize  on  all  the  means  of  production, 
tools,  machinery,  factories,  workshops,  and  mines, 
to  work  for  themselves.  We  should  not  forget 
that  as  soon  as  the  first  outbreak  of  the  revolt 
occurs,  industry  and  commerce  will  be  at  a 
standstill.  For  purposes  of  tactics  and  defence 
the  revolutionists  will  be  obliged  to  tear  up  the 
railway  lines  ;  to  cut  the  telegraph  and  telephone 


132    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

wires ;  in  some  places  even  the  gas  and  water 
supplies  will  have  to  be  destroyed,*'  etc. 
(Torch  of  Anarchy,  July  15,  1894.) 

17.  Burglary. — "  An  outcry  has  been  raised  not 
only  in  the  middle-class  press,  but  even  amongst 
revolutionary  Socialists  themselves,  against  the 
French  (Anarchist)  workman  condemned  to 
death  for  taking  some  jewellery  from  an  empty  (?) 
house,  offering  armed  resistance  to  the  police- 
man who  arrested  him,  and  boldly  asserting  at 
his  trial  that  he  had  acted  upon  principle.  .  .  . 
Duval  was  firmly  convinced  that  the  appropria- 
tors  of  existing  wealth  are  nothing  but  thieves 
unjustly  appropriating  the  fruit  of  the  labour 
of  past  and  present  generations ;  that  the  plea- 
sures with  which  they  are  gorged  are  wrung  from 
the  misery  caused  to  the  producers  by  this 
appropriation.  Therefore  he  found  means  to 
relieve  one  of  these  appropriators  of  a  portion 
of  the  capital  thus  unfairly  retained,  and  he  did 
it  with  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  (Anarchist) 
propaganda  with  funds.  ...  In  fact,  he  simply 
passed  from  theory  to  practice."  {Freedom, 
March,  1887.) 

18.  The  Remedy  for  "  Tyrants.'^ — "  Remember, 
a  sharp  knife  or  a  bomb  of  dynamite  will  rid  you 
of  them  for  ever."     (Commonweal.) 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    133 

19.  Prostitution,  Free-Love,  and  Promiscuity. — 
"  The  courtesan  is  sexually  free ;  the  wife  is  a 
slave.  The  superior  moral  condition  of  the 
former  consists  in  the  fact  that  she  can  refuse 
to  co-habit  or  associate  with  whom  she  loves  not, 
at  any  time."     (From  the  "  Anarchy  of  Love.'') 

"  The  emancipation  of  woman  from  her  domes- 
tic slavery  is  to  be  found  in  the  abolition  of  the 
marriage  laws.  Her  complete  economic  inde- 
pendence in  the  abolition  of  all  other  laws." 
{Anarchy  of  Love.) 

"  Freedom  in  love  relations  would,  of  a  cer- 
tainty, favour  variety,  which  in  some  instances 
is  a  physiological  necessity,  both  for  man  and  for 
woman."     (The  Anarchist,  May,  1887.) 

20.  No  Rent  and  Pillage. — "  Let  *  No  Rent  ' 
be  the  war-cry.  .  .  .  Let  people  universally 
refuse  to  pay,  and  what  can  stand  against  them  ? 
The  landlords  may  send  their  brokers — well, 
hot  water,  brickbats,  and  pokers  are  excellent 
medicine  for  these  gentlemen.  ...  But  there 
is  another  way  to  strike  at  the  capitalist  classes, 
and  that  is  by  helping  ourselves  to  the  wealth 
they  have  stolen  from  us  .  .  .  their  warehouses 
remain  full  of  wealth  of  all  kinds."  (Common- 
weal, September,  5  1891.) 

21.  Window-Smashing, — "  Two  brave  men  have 


134    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

set  a  good  example  to  starving  workmen.  .  .  . 
We  hope  the  unemployed  will  follow  the  example 
set  by  Bruce  and  Primmer  (who  smashed  Messrs. 
Benson's,  the  jeweller's  windows)  in  their  thou- 
sands next  winter.  We  hope  they  will  do  even 
more,  and  supply  their  needs  by  taking  the 
wealth."     {Commonweal,  September  5,   1891.) 

22.  The  Bomb  for  Policemen. — "  Some  people 
condemned  the  throwing  of  the  bomb  at  Chicago  ; 
for  his  part  he  thought  it  would  have  been  well 
in  London  if  a  man  had  been  found  courageous 
enough  to  hurl  death  and  destruction  among  the 
ruffians  who  attacked  a  peaceful  meeting." — 
(D.  J.  Nicoll  in  Commonweal,  November  21, 
1891,  and  referring  to  the  prohibited  Trafal- 
gar Square  meeting  of  November  11,  1887.) 

23.  Indiscriminate  Murder. — "  Colonna  was  an 
honest  worker  ...  he  was  sacked.  The  out" 
look  was  now  dreadful,  and  he  resolved  to 
chastise  those  who  stood  in  his  way.  He  flew 
at  the  throat  of  the  boss,  was  arrested,  and  in 
the  police-station  he  stabbed  a  bobby  and  ran  out 
in  the  street.  Another  man  in  blue  attempted  to 
arrest  him  and  got  stabbed  in  the  heart.  Well 
done !  A  third  bobby  and  one  civilian  got  the 
same  lesson.  .  .  .  This  happened  in  Marseilles." 
{Commonweal^  October  24,  1891.) 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    135 

24.  "  Practical  "  Anarchism. — ^'  At  Coal  Creek 
the  convicts  were  also  released  (by  the  strikers), 
and  directly  they  were  free  they  showed  they 
were  practical  Anarchists  by  helping  themselves 
to  ;f200  worth  (of  goods)  from  the  stores.  Bravo, 
Tennessee  miners  !  You  have  shown,  by  taking 
the  advice  of  our  brave  comrades  of  Chicago, 
that  you  are  worthy  descendants  of  the  men  who 
made  Boston  Harbour  black  with  tea.  .  .  .  You 
have  shown  the  workers  of  America — aye,  and 
of  the  world — how  to  free  themselves,  not  at  the 
ballot-box,  but  with  the  rifle,  the  torch,  and  the 
d5mamite  bomb.  Bravo,  convicts,  too,  for  you 
have  taught  the  people  how  to  bring  the  power 
of  the  capitalist  robbers  to  the  ground,  by  seizing 
upon  the  wealth  they  have  stolen  from  the 
people."     {Commonweal^  November  28, 1891.) 

25.  Anarchist  Sympathy. — "  The  poor  and  lowly 
are  a  creeping  pestilence  ;  there  are  no  innocent 
ones,  and  the  downtrodden  are  the  justly  damned." 
(Ragnar  Redheard.) 

The  foregoing  extracts  are  fair  samples  of 
Anarchist  "  literature."  So  long  as  the  English 
Government  permits  the  circulation  of  such 
demoralising  stuff,  it  should  not  be  surprised 
when  some  weak-minded  or  criminally-inclined 
person  acts  upon  the  advice  ^iven, 


J 


XIII. 

HOW  ANARCHIST  ASSASSINS  ARE 
MADE. 

That  the  time  has  arrived  when  some  move 
of  a  drastic  nature  should  be  taken  by  all  civilised 
nations,  in  the  direction  of  preventing  the  publi- 
cation, rather  than  in  the  punishment  of  Anar- 
chist assassins,  no  sane  person  will  deny.  For 
of  what  avail  are  the  gallows,  the  guillotine,  or  the 
electric  chair,  if  the  causes  which  produce  the 
Anarchist  miscreant  are  left  untouched  ?  It  is 
said  that  out  of  evil  cometh  good  ;  and  certainly 
Anarchist  outrages  will  not  have  been  in  vain 
if  public  opinion  is  directed  towards  the  source 
from  which  Anarchist  assassins  derive  their 
inspiration  :  I  refer,  of  course,  to  the  speeches 
and  publications  (especially  the  publications)  of 
these  international  pests  of  society.  Czolgosz, 
the  assassin  of  President  McKinley,  has  confessed 
to  having  heard  the  leader  of  American  Anarchism, 
Miss  Emma  Goldman,  but  three  times.  Yet 
the  inflammatory  ravings  of  these^three  speeches 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    137 

proved  sufficient  incitement  to  move  this  weak- 
minded  fool  to  commit  murder.  *'  She  set  me  on 
fire,"  said  the  miscreant ;  "  her  doctrine  that  all 
rulers  should  be  exterminated  set  me  thinking, 
so  that  my  head  nearly  split  with  pain.  Miss 
Goldman's  words  went  right  through  me,  and 
when  I  left  the  lecture  I  made  up  my  mind  that 
I  would  have  to  do  something  heroic  for  the 
cause  I  love." 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  this  particular  assassin 
was  a  person  of  low  intellectual  organisation. 
But  this  is  also  the  fact  with  all  other  Anarchist 
desperadoes.  Professor  Caesar e  Lombroso,  the 
great  Italian  criminologist,  has  demonstrated 
conclusively  that  the  Anarchist  assassin  is  very 
closely  related  to  the  insane.  From  a  careful 
study  he  has  found  that  these  modern  Thugs 
possess  peculiar  physical  characteristics  common 
among  the  inmates  of  our  idiot  and  imbecile 
asylums.  Among  100  Turin  Anarchists  arrested 
in  the  rebellion  of  May  Day,  1890,  he  found  34 
per  cent,  possessed  the  criminal  t5rpe  of  face, 
as  compared  with  43  per  cent,  among  ordinary 
criminals  of  the  prison  at  Turin.  He  found  40 
per  cent,  of  the  criminal  type  among  photographs 
of  Chicago  Anarchists,  seventeen  out  of  forty- 
three  having  disagreeable^peculiarities  of^the  face. 


138    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

Lombroso  has  further  shown"  that  along  with 
degenerate  peculiarities  of  physique  the  Anarchist 
is  still  further  accursed  with  mental  traits, 
characteristics  "  common  to  criminals  and  to  the 
insane,  and  possessing  these  traits  by  heredity." 

The  belief  that  murder  and  theft  are  actions  not 
only  innocent  but  virtuous  when  perpetrated 
with  the  professed  design  of  benefiting  humanity, 
sounds  marvellously  comforting  to  those  of  a 
weak-minded  or  criminal  nature,  and  who  have 
a  natural  propensity  to  commit  them.  Accord- 
ingly, such  persons  flock  to  the  Anarchist  standard. 
Cranks  and  criminals  abound  in  the  party.  The 
Anarchist  assassin  is  invariably  a  young  person 
of  ill-balanced  mind  who  has  imbibed  too  freely 
the  poison  of  Anarchist  oratory,  and  the  "  litera- 
ture "  of  murder  which  pours  forth  from  the 
printing  presses  which  the  Governments  of  the 
world  are  foolish  enough  to  allow  these  reckless 
madmen  to  possess.  To  stop  the  supply  of 
Anarchist  murderers  the  civilised  nations  must 
unitedly  attack  the  evil  at  its  source — the  murder- 
inciting  "  lecturer  "  and  his  equally  murderous 
pamphlet  and  manifesto. 

Here,  in  London,  Anarchists  turn  out  by  the 
hundred  thousand  pamphlets,  newspapers  and 
pianifestoes   in   various   languages,   inciting   to. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    139 

and  approving  the  most  brutal  and  inhuman 
outrages  conceivable.  The  following  horribly 
brutal  screed  was  found  in  the  possession  of  one 
of  the  Anarchists  concerned  in  the  Walsall  bomb 
conspiracy,  and  although  some  English  Anar- 
chists have  expressed  disapproval  of  the  senti- 
ments contained  in  this  production,  the  fact 
remains  that  an  Anarchist  outrage  planned  on 
somewhat  similar  lines  to  that  indicated  was 
perpetrated  at  a  theatre  in  Barcelona  some  few 
years  back. 

*^  An  Anarchist  Feast  at  the  Opera. — Who  is  the 
starving  wretch,  an  Anarchist  or  slave,  that  has 
not  shuddered  with  rage  in  thinking  of  the 
luxurious  enjoyments  that  the  rich  come  to 
seek  (by  means  of  a  little  gold)  in  a  box  at  the 
opera,  on  the  evening  of  a  first  representation  ? 

"  In  fact,  on  that  day,  the  sweaters,  financiers, 
middlemen,  magistrates,  diplomatists,  and  moral- 
ists, all  the  cream  of  the  rich  and  rulers  of  the 
people,  have  gathered  together,  certain  of  not 
being  elbowed  by  low  people,  in  order  to  enjoy 
in  comfort  and  without  trouble,  a  fresh  spectacle, 
or  the  intoxicating  music,  the  singing  and  the 
feminine  forms  (more  or  less  tainted  by  disease), 
and  to  incite  their  senses  and  to  awaken  the 
passions  never  satiated  of  that  race  of  bandits, 


140    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

who  on  the  morrow  are  unanimously  ready  to 
draw  the  sweat  and  blood  of  the  workers  in 
order  to  recover  at  once  the  handful  of  gold 
spent  on  the  previous  evening.  Well,  comrades, 
we  for  whom  the  opera  has  never  had  any  charms, 
because  it  has  not  been  established  to  admit  us 
at  the  auditory  of  the  magnificent  soir6es.  where 
the  munificence  of  art  contends  with  the  bright- 
ness of  diamonds  and  lights,  can  we  not  likewise 
enjoy  in  our  turn  the  delightful  spectacle  of 
seeing  on  a  fine  day,  or  rather  on  a  fine  evening, 
this  splendid  building  all  in  flames  in  the  middle 
of  a  brilliant  feast,  and  as  a  veritable  apotheosis 
carried  towards  heaven  ? 

"Would  not  a  single  one  among  us  feel  his 
heart  beat  with  an  immense  joy  in  hearing  the 
shrivelling  of  the  grease  of  the  rich  and  the 
bowlings  of  that  mass  of  flesh  swarming  in  the 
midst  of  that  immense  vessel  all  in  a  blaze  ? 
In  fact,  what  delight,  in  our  town,  to  see,  even 
at  a  distance,  such  a  red  conflagration !  A 
thousand  times  more  beautiful  to  our  eyes  than 
the  dazzling  of  the  purest  diamond !  To  hear 
bowlings,  the  cries  of  pain  and  rage  of  the  wolves, 
their  females  and  young  ones  in  midst  of  the 
furnace — a  thousand  times  more  vibrating  and 
more   pleasant   to  our  ears  than  the  songs  of 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    141 

half-a-dozen  prostitutes  above  an  orchestra.  As 
to  our  sense  of  smelling,  what  delight  of  smell 
that  flesh  burning  alive — an  odour  a  thousand 
times  more  pleasant  to  our  organs  than  the  most 
delicious  perfumes  with  which  that  race  of  men 
and  women  impregnate  themselves  in  order  to 
conceal  the  rottenness  which  runs  out  of  their 
bodies.  Ah  !  how  happy  are  the  cannibals  to 
be  able,  when  chance  favours  them,  not  only  to 
smell  the  flesh  of  their  enemies  broiling,  but  also 
to  eat  it.  '  The  corpse  of  an  enemy  smells  nice,' 
said  a  despot.   *" 

"  Then,  comrades,  admitting  that  all  tastes  are 
natural,  and  ours,  though  different  they  may  be, 
have  need  to  be  appeased  in  their  turn.  We  will 
content  ourselves  by  indicating  the  means  which 
we  think  proper  to  satisfy  them.  For  the 
present  we  will  continue  the  series  by  saying 
what  we  think  suitable  concerning  a  gala  recep- 
tion at  the  opera.  In  fact,  nothing  more  easy. 
A  single  man  may  act,  but  two  are  better,  in 
order  to  succeed  properly  in  the  operation 
without  any  danger  to  them.  Thus  :  two  com- 
rades, each  provided  with  a  strong  knife,  having 
a  saw  blade,  and  each  man  carrying  a  small 
bomb  of  very  small  dimensions,  loaded  with 
chlorate  of  potash,  and  having  in  the  middle  a 


142    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

small  glass  tube  containing  a  tablespoonful  of 
sulphuric  acid.  This  small  tube  is  placed  erec 
and  buried  half  its  length  in  the  chlorate,  must 
be  closed  at  top  by  a  strong  cork,  and  at  bottom 
by  a  round  piece  of  cork  four  millimetres  thick 
(if  you  wish  the  bomb  to  burst  at  the  end  of  two 
hours),  because  the  acid  requires  about  half  an 
hour  to  pierce  each  millimetre  through  the  thick- 
ness of  the  round  piece  of  cork.  If  you  wish 
the  bomb  to  burst  at  the  end  of  three  hours  the 
round  piece  of  cork  must  be  six  millimetres  thick, 
and  so  on,  half  an  hour  for  every  millimetre 
thickness.  Moreover,  comrades  may  try  before- 
hand with  a  small  pinch  of  chlorate  (the  explosion 
in  the  open  air  does  not  make  much  noise),  and 
cover  their  faces  and  hands  for  fear  of  the  broken 
pieces.  These  little  preparatory  experiments 
will  serve  them  to  appreciate  the  quality  of  the 
acid  and  cork  used,  as  well  as  the  exact  time  which 
the  acid  requires  to  pierce  each  millimetre  of 
cork  of  the  same  piece.  As  we  have  said,  the 
bombs  do  not  require  to  be  voluminous.  A 
simple  small  glass  mustard  pot,  having  the  shape 
of  a  small  cask  lengthened,  is  quite  sufficient  for 
the  quantity  of  matter,  of  which  here  is  the 
description : — Let  us  suppose  that  the  vase 
contains  500  grammes  of  matter.    You  will  then 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.     143 

put — ist,  3-5,  viz.,  300  grammes  chlorate  of 
potash ;  2nd,  2-5,  viz.,  100  grammes  sulphur ; 
3rd,  1-5,  viz.,  100  grammes  sugar,  maintaining 
always  these  proportions  according  to  the  size 
of  the  vase.  Afterwards  each  of  these  matters 
must  be  ground  very  fine  separately,  then  mixed 
gently  and  thoroughly  (although  the  operation 
offers  not  the  least  danger).  The  efficacy  of  the 
operation  depends  on  the  fine  grinding  and 
perfect  mixture.  After  that  charge  the  bomb, 
as  it  has  been  said,  in  a  manner  that  the  round 
piece  of  cork,  four  or  six  millimetres,  be  fully 
mixed  in  the  matter  above  mentioned.  These 
matters  cost  but  little.  The  chlorate  of  potash 
is  sold  nearly  in  powder  and  crystallized.  It 
must  be  quite  dry.  The  sulphur  is  sold  in  small 
sticks  of  two  or  three  centimetres  diameter.  The 
sugar  must  be  of  good  quality,  and  quite  dry. 
All  these  matters  are  easily  crushed — afterwards 
the  mixing  is  easy.  The  greater  expense  is  for 
the  two  comrades,  on  account  of  the  payment 
of  their  seats,  which  must  be  hired  beforehand, 
on  gala  days  especially.  Their  seats  must  be 
at  the  top  of  the  theatre.  Thus,  the  two  com- 
rades having  their  tickets  in  their  pockets,  go 
home  and  load  their  bombs  only  at  the  moment 
of  setting  out  for  the  theatre,  having  calculated 


144    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

for  the  time  of  explosion  at  the  end  of  three  hours, 
supposing  that  time  to  be  suitable.  Afterwards 
let  us  suppose  they  have  required  half  an  hour 
to  reach  their  seats  in  the  theatre,  the  bombs 
will  have  then  only  two  hours  and  a  half  to  sleep. 
As  soon  as  arrived  the  men  will  keep  as  close  as 
possible  to  the  walls  or  pillars  along  which  the 
gaspipes  are  fixed.  Then,  when  no  one  is  notic- 
ing them,  they  begin  by  bursting  slightly  those 
pipes  with  their  saw  blades.  It  is  easily  done, 
because  the  lead  can  be  cut  through  without 
any  noise.  When  two,  or  three,  or  four  of  these 
pipes  are  slightly  open,  the  men  place  their  bombs 
on  the  ground  by  the  side  of  the  pipes,  concealing 
them  as  much  as  possible  from  the  sight  of  the 
public.  They  may  go  away  quietly  at  the  end 
of  the  first  act ;  the  rest  of  the  operation  will 
be  completed  without  them.  Then  they  have 
time  to  go  home,  and  even  go  to  bed,  so  as  to 
prove  an  alibi  at  the  time  of  the  explosion.  Now, 
this  is  how  the  rest  of  the  operation  will  conclude  : 
At  first,  the  gas  escaping  will  ascend  and  accumu- 
late under  the  vault  of  the  theatre  during  the 
two  hours  required  for  the  explosion  of  the 
bombs.  At  that  time  there  will  be  a  quantity 
sufi&cient  to  set  fire  everywhere  and  burst  V' i 
roof  and  walls  of  the  theatre,    and  the  debris 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    145 

falling  back  will  have  the  effect  of  grapeshot  on 
the  jolly  spectators.  Afterwards  the  fire,  fed 
by  the  wood,  the  stuffs,  and  the  grease,  will 
terminate  the  operation  suitably.  As  we  have 
said  at  the  beginning,  the  work  is  easy  for  two 
companions  who  live  in  a  town  where  there  is 
a  large  theatre  suitable  to  receive  the  higher 
class  of  the  inhabitants.  For  that  it  requires 
only  hatred  in  the  heart  and  to  be  pitiless. 
After  all,  what  do  we  care  for  feelings  of  human- 
ity, even  with  regard  to  the  women  and  children 
of  that  race  of  robbers  and  real  criminals  ?  Do 
not  their  young  become  wolves  likewise  ?  Are 
their  females  less  eager  for  prey  than  the  males  ? 
On  another  part  the  workers  or  starving  people 
may  be  tranquil,  because  none  of  them  are  to  be 
seen  at  those  feasts  of  gold  and  diamonds  which 
too  often  are  given  in  honour  of  any  travelling 
monarch  at  the  expense  of  the  poor  people. 
Therefore,  it  is  pious  work  to  profit  by  those 
frequent  occasions ;  to  crown  worthily  those 
revels  which  the  bandits  throw  as  a  defiance  at 
our  misery  and  sufferings.  For  an  Anarchist 
gala  of  that  kind  the  little  money  necessary  must 
be  easier  to  find  than  for  a  platonic  propaganda. 
It  is  saying,  comrades,  that  certain  enjoyments 
are  still  permitted  to  us,  waiting  for  the  grand 

K 


146     CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

day  when  the  social  equilibrium  will  be  brutally 
established." 


The  above  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  vile  stuff  by 
which  Anarchist  assassins  are  made. 


XIV. 
THE  LIGHTER  SIDE  OF  ANARCHISM. 

Paradoxical  and  absurd  as  it  must  appear  to 
people  of  ordinary  intelligence  (and  Anarchists 
are  certainly  of  extra'0rdin3.ry  intelligence),  it  is 
nevertheless  the  fact  that  among  the  devotees  of 
knife,  torch  and  bomb,  the  motto  "  Anarchy  is 
Order  "  is  a  favourite  one.  It  is  inscribed  on 
their  banners,  and  is  reiterated  in  their  speeches 
with  a  persistency  which  becomes  positively 
tiresome  to  listen  to.  Yet,  strange  to  say  (or, 
is  it  strange  ?)  the  very  reverse  of  order  is  the 
prevailing  condition  among  Anarchists  them- 
selves. For  example,  if  I  desire  to  become  the 
happy  possessor  of  an  Anarchistic  newspaper, 
I  find  that,  in  some  cases,  it  has  no  fixed  price ; 
that,  in  place  of  the  familiar  "  Price  One  Penny  " 
of  conventional  journalism,  it  is  inscribed  "  Pay 
What  You  Like,"  or  "  Subscription  Voluntary." 

THE 

COMMONWEAL 

Vol.  II.— No.  XV.  NovHMnKR,  1900.     [Voluntary  Subscription. 

The  natural  outcome  of  such  a  method  (or, 


148    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

rather,  lack  of  method)  is  that  a  journal  produced 
on  such  "  principles  "  speedily  becomes  defunct. 
Such  was  the  fate  of  the  Sheffield  Anarchist,  the 
first  English  Anarchist  journal  courageous  enough 
to  reduce  its  chaotic  "  pay  what  you  like " 
"  principles  "  to  practice. 

THE  SHEFFIELD 


ANARCHIST. 

Vol.  I.    No.  4,                     Sunday.  Aug.  9,  1894.         [Pay  What  You  Like]. 

Having   produced   your   paper   on   the    "  pay 

what  you  like  "  system,  you  scan  its  contents, 

and  find  disorder  in  its  very  lines,  as  witness  the 

following,  reproduced  from  the  Alarm y  the  organ 

of  the  Associated  Anarchists  : — 

WE  TAKE  ANYTHING  !  !  I 
Although  money  is  handiest,  stern 
necessity  compels  us  to  be  universalist, 
and  we  therefore  wish  to  make  known 
here,  that  in  payment  for  literature 
suppUed  by  us,  we  take  anything 
which  we  can  use  for  The  Alarm,  or 
sell  in  support  of  it.     Odd  type,  ink 
furniture,   wearing   apparel,   boots, 
jewellery,  books,  back  numbers  or  sets 
of  any  paper,  used  or  unused  stamps. 
American  paper  currency,  tea,  sugar, 
cocoa,  crockery  ware,  cutlery,  etc. 
We  ought  not  to  have  any  bad  debts  at 
this  rate. 


r  CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    149 

Here  is  Anarchy  indeed  !  You  will  notice  that 
the  right  hand  side  of  the  column  is  uneven, 
giving  it  the  appearance  of  poetry.  This  is  due 
to  the  fact  that,  to  use  a  printer's  idiom,  the  lines 
have  not  been  "  justified;  "  or,  in  plain  English, 
the  spaces  between  the  words  should  have  been 
so  altered  as  to  make  each  line  spread  out  to  fill 
the  column  exact. 

fi  As  a  further  instance  of  this  Anarchistic  dis- 
order, I  give  the  following  :  From  the  offices  in 
Drury  Lane  of  a  curious  four-page  journal, 
printed  by  hand  on  yellow  tissue  paper,  entitled 
the  Atheistic  Communistic  Scorcher y  emanated 
a  still  more  curious,  and,  in  many  respects, 
amusing,  pamphlet,  entitled,  "  An  Appeal  to  the 
Half-Starved,  Herring-Gutted,  Poverty-Struck, 
Parish-Damned  Inhabitants  of  a  Disunited  King- 
dom." The  following  extract  is  an  exact  re- 
production from  the  original  (note  the  capitals 
and  punctuation  marks) : — 


150    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 


We  Require  A  Commune,  to  Take  every 
Child, — Woman,  and  Man.  Register  them 
on  the  Roll  of  the  Commune — Find  how 
many  Houses, — Tables,  Chairs,  Boots,  Coats, 
Hats, — how  much  Food, — Animal,  Vege- 
table, Cereal,  are  required  for  the  Citizen. 
Then  how  many  hours  Labor  from  each 
Citizen. — (About  One  or  Two  hours.)  from 
each  one  will  do  it,  Them  that  wont  work 
hang  them.  Labor  will  then  be  pleasant, — 
Why  Is  it  so  Irksome — To-Day  ?  Because 
of  excessive  work  and  Insufficient  pay, — 
That  Land  &  Money  Theives,  may  Batten 
and  Fatten — On  the  Plunder  of  the  Prole- 
taire. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.     151 

Some  Anarchist  journals — the  Paris  La  Revolte, 
for  example — even  dispensed  with  editors,  and 
allowed  every  comrade  connected  with  the 
"group"  which  ran  the  paper  to  "have  his  say," 
so  far  as  the  exigencies  of  space  would  allow  him. 
This  explains  the  fact  that  articles  in  direct 
contradiction  to  each  other  often  appeared  in 
the  same  journal. 

Some  of  the  advertisements  to  be  found  in 
Anarchistic  newspapers  are  certainly  amusing, 
as  witness  the  following  : — 

A  Severe  Winter  is  Inevitable  :  therefore 
advertiser  intends  making  preparations  ac- 
cordingly. Anyone  willing  to  help  form  a 
"  Help  Myself  "  society  should  communicate 
with  W.  G.  C,  office  of . 

Poacher  wants  trustworthy  comrade  ;  mostly 
night  work.     Apply . 

Another  advertisement  offered  £5  reward  for 
aji  honest  lawyer.  We  know  there  is  one  some- 
where in  the  East  End ;  he  is  painted  on  a 
public-house  sign-board,  with  his  head  under  his 
arm. 

The  Anti-Broker  Brigade  having  reached 
a  sufficient  strength  is  ready  to  assist  comrades 


152    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

and  friends  who  require  its  services,  free  of 
charge.  Apply  to  W.  C,  office  of  this  paper. 
The  above  advertisement  appeared  in  the 
Commonweal,  and  referred  to  a  group  of  fifteen 
stalwart  Anarchists  who  conscientiously  and  on 
principle  objected  to  pay  rent  under  any  circum- 
stances, and  who  helped  each  other  "  shoot  the 
moon." 

At  the  offices  of  the  Torch  of  Anarchy,  in 
Ossulton  Street,  Somer's  Town,  occurred  a 
number  of  amusing  episodes.  One  in  particular 
is  worth  recounting.  Some  "  comrades "  who 
had  been  expelled  from  Italy  struck  a  bargain 
with  the  Anarchist  printer  of  the  Torch  to  get 
out  some  revolutionary  pamphlets  in  Italian, 
and  in  consideration  of  the  working  of  his  press 
by  them  he  agreed  to  quote  very  reduced  prices. 
It  was  a  glorious  sight  to  see  these  brawny  sons 
of  the  Revolution  perspiring  at  the  press,  singing 
Caserio's  "Hymn  to  Liberty,"  and  rejoicing  in 
the  thought  that  through  their  efforts  the  prin- 
ciples of  Anarchy  would  be  spread  through  their 
native  land.  Everyone  was  happy  until  some 
inquisitive  fellow  looked  at  the  "  proofs,"  and 
made  a  terrible  discovery.  The  wily  printer, 
it  seems,  had  undertaken  a  large  printing  con- 
tract for  some  local  clergymen,  and  for  months 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    153 

these  firebrands  had  been  printing  tracts  and 
sermons ! 

To  the  crank,  the  Anarchist  movement  acts 
as  a  magnet.  It  was  while  working  as  a  com- 
positor in  the  offices  of  Freedom  that  I  came 
across  as  fine  a  specimen  as  one  could  wish  to 
meet  in  a  day's  march.  And  among  Anarchists 
one  finds  the  crank  far  excellence.  One  day  a 
middle-aged,  respectably-dressed  person  of  ordi- 
nary appearance,  except  for  a  wild  gleam  in  the 
eyes,  entered  the  office  and  asked  to  see  the 
manager.  He  wanted  an  estimate  for  printing 
a  twenty-page  pamphlet.  A  satisfactory  quota- 
tion having  been  given,  he  produced  a  roll  of 
MS.  from  the  inside  pocket  of  his  coat,  and  gave 
an  order  for  the  printing  of  1,000  copies.  After 
he  had  gone  we  examined  the  MS.,  and  found  it 
to  contain  as  curious  a  medley  of  sense  and 
nonsense  (mostly  of  the  latter)  as  one  could 
hope  to  find  outside  the  four  walls  of  a  lunatic 
asylum. 

The  brochure,  a  printed  copy  of  which  I  have 
before  me  as  I  write,  was  entitled,  "  The  Truth — 
the  Way  to  the  Physical,  Moral,  Mental,  and 
Spiritual  Regeneration,  and  the  Life,"  by  Alfred 
E.  Gaynor,  who  modestly  described  himself  as 
follows  : — 


154    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

*'  Water  Bearer. 

Spirit   Architect    and    Constructor   of    the   Universe, 

The  Osiris,  or  Incarnate  Representative  of  the  Solar 

Power. 

Occultist  and  Metaphysician, 

Social   Surveyor,   Counsellor,   and   Transformer, 

Boudha,  Krishna,  and  Jesus  Christ  Resurrected, 

Second  Person  of  the  Trinity, 

The  Messiah,  or  Son  of  Man. 

Redeemer  of  Humanity  from  the  Powers  of  Darkness, 

Leader  of  the  Heavenly  Hosts, 

and  Spiritual  Commander  of  the  Forces  against 

Mammon, 

Lion  of  the  Tribe  of  Judah. 

Last  Avatar  of  Vishnu.'* 

Interspersed 

through      the 

pages     of     this 

pamphlet    are 

a    number    of 

quotations  from 

such    curiously 

assorted  sources 

as   the    Bible, 

the  Free-thinker, 

Sir     Monier- 

Williams,    the 

Torch  of  Anarchy, 

The  Anarchist  Messiah.  the       Bhaga- 

vadgita,    and    Volney's    "Ruins    of  Empires," 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    155 

The  mission  of  the  new  Messiah  was  to  "  pull 
down  all  the  old  devil-erected  structures — the  king- 
doms, governments,  and  religious  institutions  of  the 
world — by  nullifying  the  means  by  which  they  are 
enabled  to  maintain  their  Satanic  dominance,  i.e.y 
Money  ;  abolishing  barter  and  trade,  and  cancelling 
all  mammon-made  laws,  deeds,  charters,  stocks, 
bonds,  notes,  and  other  red-tape  and  paper  chains 
which  hold  mankind  in  the  bondage  of  delusion,  and 
upon  their  site  to  build  up  a  New  Dispensation  and 
a  New  Humanity  y  The  name  of  the  new  world 
was  to  be  "  Olombia,  or  the  New  Columbia  State 
of  the  World."  It  was  to  be  a  "  Saturnian,  or 
No-Money  Commonwealth  "  ;  its  members  the 
"  Spirit-Builders  of  the  White  Light  and  the 
Truth  University. ' '  Everything  under  the  new  dis- 
pensation was  to  be  free,  gratis,  and  for  nothing 
— free  material,  free  labour,  free  habitation — in 
fact,  free  beer,  free  'bacca,  and  free  mutton-chops. 

Individuals"^ in  Olombia,  or  the  "Realm  of 
Celestial  Light " — the  "  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
now  established  on  Earth  " — were  to  be  organ- 
ised on  the  Anarchist  pattern  of  "  groups " 
freely  federated,  and  classified  under  various 
industrial  denominations  called  Orders,  such  as 
the  Order  of  Agriculturists,  the  Orders  of  En- 
gineers, Carpenters,  Masons,  Tailors,  Bootmakers, 


156  ^XONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

Electricians,  Journalists,  Designers,  Musicians, 
Teachers,  etc.,  which  were  to  take  upon  themselves 
the  Commonwealth  management  and  operation 
of  the  sources  of  production  and  supply ;  of  its 
land,  buildings,  storages,  manufactories,  farming, 
means  of  transportation,  etc.  (which,  of  course, 
existed  only  in  our  "Messiah's"  imagination). 

Every  person  between  the  ages  of  21  and  50 
who  partook  of  the  Commonwealth  supplies 
was  to  identify  himself  with  one  of  these  Orders, 
and  in  return  the  "  Kingdom  of  Heaven  now 
established  on  Earth  "  was  to  guarantee  to  each 
of  its  members  a  free  livelihood,  free  conveyance, 
free  education,  free  literature,  free  amusements 
— in  fact,  free  everything  ! 

Six  hours  was  to  be  the  Commonwealth 
working  day ;  five  days  the  Commonwealth 
working  week  ;  twenty  days  the  Commonwealth 
working  month  ;  ten  months  the  Commonwealth 
working  year,  and  twenty-nine  years  the 
Commonwealth  working  limit.  Starting  work 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  the  "  Spirit  Builders 
of  the  White  Light  "  were  to  retire  at  the  age  of 
forty-nine  —  the  fiftieth  birthday  beginning  each 
individual's  Jubilee,  the  entering  into  which 
bestowed  '*  Olombia  Citizenship,"  together  jwith 
"  an    undivided,    untaxed,    and    untrammelled 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.   157 

interest  in  the  Whole  Earth  with  all  its  pro- 
ductions, and  a  right  to  all  that  is  desired  for 
the  maintenance  of  life,  health,  liberty,  develop- 
ment, culture  and  pleasure,  *  without  money  and 
without   price.'  " 

One  can  only  exclaim,  "  Oh,  what  must  it  be 
to  be  there  !  " 

Another  beautiful  and  rather  rare  specimen 
of  the  Anarchist  crank  I  discovered  in  the  same 
printing  office.  He  was  a  believer  in  natural 
living,  and  a  "  dress  reformer  "  with  a  vengeance. 
He  existed  entirely  on  a  diet  of  nuts  and  cold 
water — aye,  and  what  is  the  most  amazing  part 
about  it,  flourished  and  grew  fat  on  that  diet. 
In  the  office  the  Anarchists  possessed  a  large 
old-fashioned  printing-press,  which  was  turned 
by  hand.  This  was  very  exhausting  work,  and 
would  knock  an  ordinary  man  out  of  breath  in 
about  ten  minutes  or  so.  The  machine  had, 
consequently,  to  be  worked  by  some  four  or 
five  men  in  shifts  of  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
each.  But  this  nut-reater  outdid  all  of  us  roast 
beef  and  pudding  devourers,  for  he  was  able 
to  work  at  the  machine  for  about  an  hour  right 
off  without  any  apparent  sign  of  exhaustion. 
His  greatest  fad,  however,  was  in  the  "  dress 
reform  "  line.    He  believed  in  "  natural  dress,'* 


158    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 


and  detested  "conventionality."  Barbers,  hat- 
ters, hosiers,  and  bootmakers  he  abominated, 
and  walked  the  streets  in 
all  weathers  hatless,  bare- 
footed, and  minus  shirt, 
collar  and  tie,  and  even 
waistcoat.  One  fine  hot 
summer's  day  he  was  ar- 
rested in  the  City,  a  howling 
mob  following  him  to  the 
Guildhall,  where  he  was 
charged  with  being  insuffi- 
ciently clad.  He  was  ac- 
tually parading  the  streets 
"mid  nodings  on"  except 
a  pair  of  short  bathing 
pants  ! 

An  amusing  incident  once 
occurred  at  an  Anarchist 
meeting  in  South  Place 
Chapel,  Finsbury.  It  was 
The  Anarchist  Style,  a  public  meeting  to  "com- 
memorate the  Chicago  Martyrs."  One  of  the 
orators  on  this  occasion  was  vehemently  dramatic 
in  his  style,  and  was  trying  to  inspire  someone 
among  his  listeners  with  the  necessity  of  "  acting." 
Warming  to  his  work,  he  concluded  his  speech 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    159 

with  this  fiery  peroration  :  "  Comrades  !  the 
Cause  of  Anarchy  is  worth  working  for !  worth 
fighting  for  ! — aye,  and,  if  needs  be,  worth  dying 
for !  "—and  down  came  his  fist  with  tremendous 
force  on  a  small  three-legged  table  which  stood 
on  the  platform,  smashing  it  to  utter  smithereens, 
amid  the  uproarious  laughter  of  everyone  present. 


XV. 
THE  ABSURDITIES  OF  ANARCHISM. 

The  Anarchist  is  nothing  if  not  an  utopist 
His  ideas  have  their  foundation,  not  in  the  sure 
and  solid  basis  of  science,  but  in  the  unstable 
grounds  of  sentiment.  Facts,  in  his  scheme,  are 
not  necessary  ;  in  his  blissful  ignorance  he  dreams 
of  stepping  out  of  the  "  hell  of  commercialism  " 
right  into  that  questionable  heaven  of  Anarchist- 
Communism.  For  him  the  laws  of  social  evolu- 
tion are  as  nothing,  or  do  not  exist;  and  the 
angelic  creatures  he  sometimes  depicts  as  modern 
men  and  women  capable  of  living  harmoniously 
without  government  are  but  creatures  of  his  own 
vivid  imagination. 

An  instance  of  this  general  Anarchist  ignorance 
of  the  laws  of  social  evolution,  in  a  literature 
teeming  with  instances,  occurs  in  No.  i  of  the 
Alarm,  a  now  happily  defunct  weekly  (and 
weakly)  sheet  issued  by  the  (once)  Associated 
Anarchists,  who  conclude  a  statement  of  policy 
with    the    following    interesting    but    laughable 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    i6i 

information  :  "  And  we  mean  to  have  Anarchy 
in  our  time."* 

Passing  from  this,  let  us  look  at  another  phase 
of  the  folly  of  Anarchism.  A  Communist-Anar- 
chist is  certainly  a  political  freak  ;  his  creed, 
as  he  himself  tells  us,  is  "  two-sided  "  (not  to 
say  one-sided) — "  its  political  theory  is  absolute 
individual  liberty,  its  economic  substance  that 
of  Communism."  What  better  evidence  could 
one  require  of  the  absurdity  of  Communist- 
Anarchism  ?  Communism,  meaning  the  collec- 
tive ownership  and  control  of  the  land  and 
instruments  of  labour,  necessarily  involves  au- 
thority to  enforce  the  will  of  the  collectivity ; 
Anarchism,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  negation 
of  authority — the  doctrine  of  individual  supre- 
macy. Consequently,  to  talk  of  Communist-Anar- 
chism is  to  talk  arrant  nonsense  ;  it  is  to  talk  of 
authority  without  authority,  organisation  without 

*  In  one  sense  this  prophesy  was  fulfilled ;  for, 
within  a  few  months  disorder  reigned  supreme  among 
the  "Associated,"  who  constituted  themselves  into 
rival  factions,  each  faction  in  turn  carrying  out  the 
Anarchist  doctrine  of  "invididual  expropriation"  by 
means  of  periodic  raids  (at  dead  of  night)  on  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  opposing  faction  (a  common  occurrence 
among  Anarchists)  :  the  whole  culminating  in  the 
introduction  of  the  police  on  the  invitation  of  the 
Anarchists   themselves  ! 


i62    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

organisation,  administration  without  administra- 
tion !     So  that  "  Communist-Anarchist "  is  simply 
another    name    for     Socialist-Individualist,    or, 
Socialist- Anti-Socialist !     What  could  be  plainer  ? 
Now,  a  consequence  of  holding  such  a  mixture 
of  opposite  ideas  is  that  the  Anarchist  "  move- 
ment "    in   time   resolves   itself,   as   we   find   it 
to-day,  into  a  medley  of  different  sects,  all  at 
variance  with  each  other.    One  thing,  anyway, 
is  certain,  and  that  is,  that  the  Anarchists  have 
not  made  a  mistake  in  choosing  their  name ; 
for  where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together 
in  the  name  of  Anarchy,  there  also,  of  a  surety, 
are  chaos  and  confusion.    Much  as  rum  follows 
missionary,  so  chaos  dogs  the  footsteps  of  Anarchy. 
Chaos  in  the   "  movement  "   and  chaos  in  the 
brains  of  those  who  compose  it.    Anarchy  is 
emphatically    not    order — Kropotkin,   Malatesta 
and  Co.  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
^  Again,   a  logical  consequence  of  a  belief  in 
Anarchist-Communism  is  that  a  thinking  person, 
conscientiously  holding  such  paradoxical  views, 
is  certain,  sooner  or  later,  to  renounce  one  or 
the  other — Anarchism  or  Communism. 

Dr.  Merlino — who  has  now  happily  seen  the 
folly  of  Anarchy — writing  in  the  Commonweal 
for  January  9,  1892,  deploringly  complains  of j  the 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    163 

lengths  to  which  his  (then)  fellow-Anarchists 
have  gone  in  their  following  of  this  will-o'-the- 
wisp  of  Anarchy.  "  There  are,"  he  says,  "  in 
our  ranks  people  who  evidently  regard  themselves 
as  the  '  pure '  Anarchists,  and  who  never  fail, 
whenever  their  comrades  propose  practical  work 
of  any  kind,  to  stand  up  and  speak  against  it  in 
the  name  of  Anarchy."  My  object  in  referring 
to  this  article  here  is  simply  to  point  out  that 
the  kind  of  Anarchist  there  depicted  is  in  the 
ascendancy  in  the  party,  and  is  the  real  and 
only  logical  Anarchist.  Let  us  take  a  glance  at 
him  as  he  is  pictured  by  Merlino  :  Opposed  to 
organisation,  he  yet  belongs  to  his  Anarchist 
"  group."  He  objects  to  the  latter  appointing 
anyone  to  make  the^necessary  arrangements  for 
lectures,  sending  round  invitations  for  speakers, 
issuing  bills,  collecting  money,  and  so  on.  This 
he  stamps  with  the  word  "  officialism."  He 
shuns  officialism.  He  gets  angry  at  the  very 
idea  of  appointing  somebody  to  do  something. 
He  hates  the  very  names  "  chairman,  secretary, 
organiser,"  etc.,  and  detests  majority  decision 
as  the  Devil  is  said  to  detest  holy  water.  Should 
some  poor  half-fledged  Anarchist  in  his  "  group  " 
propose  to  issue  a  manifesto  or  start  a  club, 
the    out-and-out    Anarchist    sees    at^once    the 


i64    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

impossibility  of  doing  any  such  thing  on  Anar- 
chist "  principles."  He  is  scandalised  at  the 
very  idea.  He  looks  upon  these  "  philosophers  " 
(as  he  will  contemptuously  call  them)  as  future 
dictators,  and  their  plan  as  a  mortal  sin  against 
Anarchy.  He  will  never  tolerate  working  on  a 
settled  plan ;  and  he  is  afraid  of  Anarchism 
becoming  a  force  for  fear  of  his  comrades  being 
led  astray.  Should  his  half -fledged  "  comrade  " 
see  in  this  or  that  particular  event — say,  a  strike 
— an  opportunity  for  propagating  his  ideas,  the 
out-and-out  Anarchist  steps  in  and  cries  :  "  What 
business  have  you  to  mix  with  these  unworthy 
workers  ?  They  are  not  Anarchists  at  all ! 
They  have  a  chairman  and  secretary  in  their 
union ;  they  strike  merely  for  less  hours  and 
more  pay,  and  not  for  an  immediate  reconstruc- 
tion of  society  ;  they  don't  even  help  themselves 
from  the  shops.  Will  you  run  the  risk  of  becom- 
ing acquainted  with  them,  perhaps  making 
yourself  popular,  and  by-and-by  getting  into 
office,  and  then,  turn  against  your  principles  ? 
Hold  aloof,  sirs,  or  else,  we  tell  you,  you  are  no 
Anarchists." 

The  above,  absurd  though  it  may  seem  to 
anyone  unacquainted  with  the  Anarchists,  is  an 
unexaggerated  word-picture  of  the  farcical  yet 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

logical  consequences  to  which  a  belief  in  the 
sovereignty  of  the  individual  must  necessarily 
lead.  The  logical  Anarchist,  therefore,  is  a 
down-with-everything-that's-up  advocate ;  his 
creed  is  a  creed  of  negations  ;  sans  Government, 
sans  order,  sans  decency,  sans  ever5rthing  neces- 
sary to  the  making  of  a  prosperous  and  peaceful 
community. 

I  remember  reading  in  Freedom  an  answer 
to  an  enquirer  who  wanted  to  know  what  would 
be  done  under  Anarchist  conditions  of  do-as-you- 
please  in  the  following  circumstances :  The 
members  of  an  Anarchist  (ahem !)  Commune 
require  a  bridge ;  the  majority  favour  one 
design,  the  minority  another.  And  what,  think 
you,  is  the  solution  according  to  the  infallible 
gospel  of  Anarchy  ?  Stand  firm,  poor  human 
brain — it  is  this  :  Build  two  bridges  !  ! !  Ye 
gods  !  What  next  will  they  be  asking  us  to 
subscribe  to  ?  And  supposing  there  be  three, 
or  for  that  matter,  fifty  differences  of  opinion  ? 
Why,  of  course,  build  fifty  bridges !  Verily, 
and  of  a  truth,  the  Anarchist  never  opens  his 
mouth  but  he  puts  his  foot  in  it.  Designing 
and  constructing  such  gigantic  undertakings  as 
modern  bridges  seem  to  be,  to  him,  about  on 
a  par  with  the  designing  and  erection  of  pig-sties. 


i66    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

Cost — and  it  is  here  as  well  to  remember  that 
the  Tower  Bridge  cost  £850,000 — and  waste  of 
labour,  to  the  all-knowing  Anarchist,  are  mere 
minor  details,  not  worthy  of  consideration. 
And  then,  just  as  if  the  foregoing  "  solution  "  of 
our  Anarchist  world-regenerator  was  not  suffi- 
ciently startling  in  itself,  we  are  actually  told, 
"  in  cold  blood,"  that  this  Anarchical  method  is 
"  economical "  ! 

"  Do  I  sleep  ?    Do  I  dream  ? 
Do  I  wander  in  doubt  ? 
Are  things  what  they  seem  ? 
Or   is   wisions   about  ?  " 

I  look  at  my  Freedom  again  ;  yes,  it  is  there 
right  enough.  Then  I  think  to  myself,  do  these 
Anarchists  mean  what  they  say,  or  are  they 
only  Bernard-Shawing  ?  Build  two  bridges ! 
Yes,  run  opposition  railroads  side  by  side  ;  block 
the  public  streets  with  double  sets  of  tram-lines  ; 
allow  every  crank  to  have  everything  just  as 
he  "  darned- well  "  pleases  ;  but,  above  all,  erect 
a  double  quantity  of  lunatic  asylums,  for  under 
such  imbecile  conditions  they  will  be  needed  ! 

One  could  almost  respect  the  Anarchist  if  he 
were  consistent — even  a  trifle  consistent.  But 
he  is  the  very  incarnation  and  embodiment  of 
inconsistency.     In    one    of    his    manifestoes    he 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    167 

says  :  "  No  man  can  honestly  and  truly  represent 
anyone  but  himself,  and  if  he  says  he  can,  he 
is  a  humbug  " — and  straightway  he  lays  claim 
to  that  not  very  flattering  appellation  by  present- 
ing himself  at  the  door  of  an  International 
Socialist  Congress  as  the  representative  of  his 
Anarchist  group !  He  believes  in  the  liberty 
of  the  individual,  and  tolerates  no  manner  of 
rule  whatsoever — and  his  patron  saint,  Ravachol, 
in  his  autobiography,  confides  in  us  that,  had  he 
and  his  comrades  the  power  (anti-authoritarians 
shrieking  for  authority !)  they  would  "  suppress 
the  majority  "  /  /  /  He  rails  at  Parliament  as 
a  useless  institution,  forgetful  of  the  fact  that 
Parliament  does  at  times  accomplish  something 
socially  beneficial,  however  little  that  something 
may  be ;  and,  having  delivered  himself  thus, 
will  attend  his  Anarchist  Congress,  which,  mark 
you,  is  made  up  of  "  representatives  "  of  Anar- 
chism from  all  parts  of  the  world,  who  meet — 
to  do  something  practical  ?  not  at  all — merely 
to  "  exchange  ideas  " — and  then,  having  gone 
through  successfully  this  interesting  farce  of  a 
Mutual  Admiration  Society,  return  to  the  four 
corners  of  the  earth,  having  accomplished  nothing  I 
not  even  passed  a  resolution,  for  that  is  not 
Anarchistic,   you   understand !    He   believes   in 


i68    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

freedom,  execrates  authority,  anathematises  coer- 
cion— and  throws  bombs  at  religious  processions, 
and  murders  unoffending  occupants  of  restaurants 
and  theatres !  But  enough !  The  follies  and 
crimes  of  this  absurd  yet  hideous  phantasmagoria 
of  Anarchism  are  so  numerous  that,  like  unto 
the  alleged  unreported  sayings  of  Christ,  were 
they  recorded,  "  the  earth  would  not  contain 
them." 


XVL 

ANARCHISM  A  BUNDLE  OF  CONTRADIC- 
TIONS. 

Credo  quia  absurdum. 

Anarchism  has  been  described  as  "  individua- 
lism run  mad " — certainly  in  the  Anarchist 
"  Idea  "  there  is  a  "  tile  loose  "  somewhere. 

I  well  remember  once  listening  to  a  lecture  by 
a  certain  "  Christian  Anarchist,"  who,  in  the 
course  of  his  remarks,  happened  to  say  something 
which  did  not  fit  in  with  the  ideas  of  another 
Anarchist  present.  Rising  in  his  place,  Anarchist 
No.  2  indignantly  and  vehemently  protested 
against  the  "  Christian  Anarchist's "  heretical 
views  being  palmed  off  as  the  true  Anarchist 
gospel ;  and,  producing  from  his  coat  pocket 
a  manifesto  of  some  Anarchist  Communist 
Alliance,  quoted  chapter  and  verse  in  contradic- 
tion. "  Oh,  yes,"  exclaimed  the  "  Christian  Anar- 
chist "  in  reply ;  "  I  have  seen  that  manifesto ; 
indeed,    a    long    acquaintance    with    Anarchists 


170    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

has  convinced  me  that  there  are  as  many 
Anarchist  AlUances  as  there  are  Anarchists,  for 
every  Anarchist  I  have  met  has  a  special  Anar- 
chism of  his  own." 

This,  coming  from  one  "  companion "  to 
another,  I  thought  somewhat  rich,  but  it  certainly 
possessed  the  merit  of  being  true — a  merit  not 
always  associated  with  Anarchists'  statements. 
Verily,  where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together 
in  the  name  of  Anarchy,  there,  of  a  surety,  are 
chaos  and  confusion. 

A  writer  in  the  Commonweal,  May  9,  1891, 
recognises  this  fact  and  deplores  it.  "  Anar- 
chism," he  says,  "  includes  among  its  advocates 
men  of  the  most  divergent  and  irreconcileable 
opinions,"  and,  "as  an  Anarchist-Communist," 
he  declines  to  "  make  common  cause  with  an 
Anarchist  of  the  mutualist  school " — in  fact, 
wouldn't  touch  him  with  a  pole.  Edward 
Carpenter,  taken  to  task  by  another  Anarchist 
for  the  mildness  of  his  opinions,  pleads  for 
toleration  (Commonweal,  December  5,  1891)  on 
the  ground  that,  "  after  all,  there  are  so  many 
sections  among  the  Anarchists.  There  are,"  he 
says,  "  the  Anarchists  who  denounce  the  blackleg 
....  and  the  Anarchists  who  cherish  and 
embrace  him ;    then    there  are    the  Academic 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    171 

Anarchists  ....  and  the  Tarnation  Anarchists 
(followers  of  Albert  Tarn),  and  the  B.A.'s,  or 
Bloody  Anarchists."  Add  to  these  a  few  more, 
and  the  list  will  even  then  be  far  from  complete  : 
Individualist-Anarchists  (described  by  the  Com- 
munists as  "  cranks,"  which  we  can  quite  well 
believe) ;  Communist-Anarchists  (described  by 
the  Individualists  as  "  charlatans,"  which  also 
we  can  quite  well  believe) ;  Collectivist  Anarchists, 
(a  Spanish  freak) ;  Christian,  or  "  non-resistance  " 
Anarchists  ;  ultra  -  revolutionary  Anarchists  ; 
*'  Tuckerites "  (worshippers  of  Benjamin  R. 
Tucker,  of  Boston) ;  Socialist-Anarchists  (a 
peculiar  species  and  very  rare) ;  Mutualist- 
Anarchists  ;  Democratic  or  majority-rule  Anar- 
chists ;  Political  Anarchists — in  fact,  a  fine  lot. 
One  is  forcibly  reminded  of  the  exclamation  of 
a  noted  artist  on  hearing  the  names  of  certain 
Royal  Academicians — "  0  Gemini !  What  a  bally 
crew !  " 

If  we  take  the  definition  of  M.  Proudhon,  the 
supposed  "  father  "  of  Anarchism,*  we  find  that 

*  I  say  "supposed"  advisedly,  for  there  appear 
to  be  several  "  fathers,'*  and  disputations  among 
Anarchists  regarding  the  parentage  of  this  political 
illegitimate  are  without  end.  Some  cast  the  blame  on 
Proudhon  ;  others  on  Max  Stirner  ;  a  third  section 
makes  Josiah  Warren  responsible  ;    while  yet  others 


172    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

in  the  Anarchist  regime  there  is  to  be  "  no  more 
authority,  absolute  liberty  of  the  man  and  the 
citizen."  ("  Les  Confessions  d'un  Revolution- 
naire.")  This  was  published  in  1868  ;  twenty- 
five  years  later  one  of  the  "  father's  "  small  but 
noisy  progeny — les  enfants  terrible  of  politics — 
the  London  Freedom,  rounds  on  its  "father" 
for  putting  forward  such  a  "  ridiculous  claim !  " 
"  Where  is  the  Anarchist,"  it  asks  (April,  1893), 
"  who  makes  such  a  ridiculous  claim  as  absolute 
liberty  ?  "  Where,  indeed !  Freedom  should 
have  a  better  memory.  If  it  will  refer  to  its  own 
issue  for  August,  1889,  it  will  find  these  words  : 
"  Anarchist  Communism  ....  means  absolute 
freedom  for  every  human  being  of  either  sex." 

lay  the  crime  at  the  door  of  Bakounine.  Be  this  as  it 
may,  no  one  has  yet  disputed  the  right  of  Kropotkin 
to  be  called  the  "  father  "  of  that  political  monstrosity 
christened  "  Anarchist-Communism.'*  The  editor  of 
the  Anarchist  (April,  1888)  has  been  good  enough  to 
tell  how  the  brat  first  saw  the  light.  This  is  what  he 
says  :  "  Before  Bakounine  died,  Kropotkin  once  told 
me  that  he  (Bakounine)  said  that  some  day  somebody 
would  solve  the  synthesis  between  Anarchism  and 
Communism.  Kropotkin,  no  doubt,  desired  to  be 
the  '  somebody,'  and  said  to  some  others  (if  I  remem- 
ber aright,  Reclus  and  Cafiero),  '  Let  us  do  it  now.* 
And  forthwith,  Communism  went  into  partnership 
with  Anarchy,  and,  scientific-like — hey  presto  I — Com- 
munist-Anarchism was  manufactured  on  the  spot," 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.     173 

Nor  is  Freedom  alone  among  the  advocates  of 
the  "  ridiculous."  The  American  Firebrand  (a 
very  appropriate  title,  by  the  way)  week  by 
week  contained  a  stereotyped  definition  of 
Anarchy  as  "  absolute  individual  liberty ;  "  the 
Anarchist  (March,  1888)  makes  the  same  "  ridicu- 
lous claim." 

Let  us  take  the  programme  of  the  "  Inter- 
national Federation  of  Revolutionary  Anarchists  " 
(an  organisation  with  a  name  which  in  itself 
was  calculated  to  make  the  tyrants  of  the  earth 
shake  in  their  shoes,  but  which,  sad  to  relate, 
lasted  but  a  month).  "  The  aim  of  the  party," 
we  are  told,  '*  is  the  abolition  of  the  State  .... 
and  the  prevention  of  its  reconstitution."  Never- 
theless, according  to  another  Anarchist  "  author- 
ity," "  Anarchy  even  covers  the  right  of  Govern- 
ments to  exist  for  those  who  want  and  support 
them."  (Anarchist,  July,  1887.)  Here's  a  pretty 
fine  how-do-you-do  !  "  Government  in  all  its 
forms  "  is  to  be  totally  destroyed,  yet  still  exist ! 
Verily,  as  one  Anarchist  has  truly  said,  "  the 
beauty  of  Anarchy  is  that  its  advocates  differ." 
And  so  say  all  of  us ! 

Stepniak,  lecturing  against  Anarchism,  is  re- 
ported to  have  said  as  follows  :  "In  spite  of 
Proudhon,  work  must  be  done  in  common,  and 


174    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

there  must  be,  under  what  name  you  please,  a 
directing  body."  A  writer  in  Freedom  (March, 
1893)  commenting  on  these  remarks,  says  :  "No 
one  denies  this."  So  you  see  there  is  to  be  no 
government,  but  a  directing  body  !  What  could 
be  plainer  ? 

"  The  object  of  Anarchy  "  (Anarchist,  October, 
1887)  "  is  for  every  individual  to  do  as  he  pleases, 
subject  only  to  the  only  rule  that  by  so  doing 
he  does  not  infringe  the  like  freedom  of  others." 
Such  appears  to  me  a  fair  statement  of  true, 
i.e.,  equal  liberty.  But  equal  liberty  involves 
authority  (and  there  is  to  be  no  authority,  you 
understand)  to  prevent  and  punish  those  who 
overstep  the  bounds.  If  equal  liberty  be  the 
object  of  Anarchism,  then  the  abolition  of  govern- 
ment cannot  also  be  its  final  aim — the  two  things 
being  as  different  as  chalk  is  from  cheese. 

"  The  claim  of  government  is  no  other  than 
the  claim  of  the  strongest."  ("  Anarchy  :  Theory 
and  Practice.")  But  still,  "  whoever  has  might 
he  has  right."  (Max  Stirner,  "  Der  Einzige  und 
sein  Eigenthum,"  p.  196.)  So  that  Anarchists 
not  only  condemn  government  but  justify  it ! 
"  There  exists  no  natural  right  but  might  .... 
there  is,  therefore,  no  such  thing  as  natural 
justice,  no  natural  morality,  no  society,  nor  any 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    175 

liberty  but  license."  (Anarchist,  August  i,  1888.) 
Under  the  new  Anarchist  regime  "  organisation 
would  be  necessary,"  of  course,  says  Liberty 
(January,  1895).  Nevertheless  we  are  told, 
(Truth-seeker,  January,  1900)  that  " '  organisation,' 
*  government,'  '  discipline,'  loyalty,'  '  duty,'  " 
are  merely  "  pet  phrases  invented  by  would-be 
dictators,"  and  the  "  magic  machinery  through 
which  the  subjection  of  the  people  is  effected." 
Thus,  you  see,  there  is  to  be  organisation  and 
no  organisation !     We  are  getting  on. 

Let  us  further  examine  this  precious  thing 
called  Anarchist  organisation.  Leaving  out  of 
account  for  the  moment  the  fact  that  organisation 
is  impossible  under  conditions  of  "  do-as-you- 
like,"  the  fact  remains  that  some  Anarchists 
profess  to  believe  in  organisation.  Dr.  Mac- 
donald,  writing  in  Freedom  (October,  1893),  tells 
us  that  "  trade-unions  are  based  on  Anarchical 
lines."  Very  well,  then,  the  basic  principle 
underlying  trade-unionism  is  that  of  authority, 
punishments  (fines),  majority-rule,  etc.  Are 
we  to  understand  that  all  these  will  exist  under 
Anarchy  ?  On  the  contrary,  according  to  Dr. 
Nettlau  ("Why  we  are  Anarchists"),  "a  conse- 
quence of  freedom  is  the  rejection  of  laws 
and    majority-rule,"      For    these    they    would 


176    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 


"  substitute  the  principle  of  unanimity  "  (Freedom^ 
February,  1888).  There  is  to  be  no  difference 
of  opinion  under  Anarchy — all  will  be  the  very 
pink  of  perfection.  But  stay !  John  Turner, 
debating  with  Herbert  Burrows  (reported  in 
Freedom,  September,  1889)  doesn't  think  anything 
of  the  kind.  "  I  do  not  believe,"  he  says,  "  that 
people  will  agree  on  everything — that  is  not  my 
idea  of  Anarchism."  So  you  see  that,  after  all, 
Anarchism  is  not  to  be  a  paradise  of  stained- 
glass  angels.  On  the  contrary,  there  will  be 
differences  of  opinion  just  the  same  as  now.    How 

will  these  differ- 
ences be  settled, 
always  remem- 
bering  that 
"majority -rule 
is  the  vilest 
form  of  tyr- 
anny "  ?  {Free- 
dom, December, 
1890).  It  ap- 
pears they 
would  have 
public  meetings 
to  discuss  communal  affairs  (and  we  all  know  the 
amicable    spirit    which    animates    a    crowd    of 


Bresci, 
'The  assassin  of  the  King  of  Italy. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    177 

disputants !).  "  Trifling  objections,"  it  seems, 
"  would  disappear  in  the  discussions  which 
would  take  place,  and  only  differences  of  opinion 
too  strong  to  be  bridged  over  would  remain. 
Then  each  party  would  set  to  work  to  carry  into 
effect  the  plan  it  favoured.  It  might  result  from 
this  that  two,  or  even  three,  buildings  might  be 
erected  in  the  place  of  one  originally  intended.  But 
who  could  complain  ?  "  asks  our  Anarchist 
world  regenerator.  Who,  indeed  !  "  What  we 
have  said,"  continues  our  Anarchist  friend, 
"  about  the  constitution  of  a  building  may  be 
applied  to  all  the  wants  of  society — as  well  as  to 
the  making  of  railways,  canals,  and  telegraph 
lines  ....  in  fact,  to  all  the  branches  of  human 
activity  "  !  !  !  ("  Society  on  the  Morrow  of  the 
Revolution,"  by  Jean  Grave.) 

Let  us  see.  "  Majority-rule  crushes  individual 
initiative,  self-reliance,  and  reduces  the  indi- 
vidual to  a  State  slave."  {Freedom,  November 
1890.)  However,  "in  all  practical  problems, 
if  men  will  not  or  cannot  separate,  and  if  it  is 
not  expedient  to  adopt  several  different  solutions 
at  once,  it  is  needful  that  one  fraction  yield  to 
the  other,  and  I  am  very  willing  to  admit,"  says 
E.  Malatesta,  "  that  it  should  be  the  minority 
which  yields."   ("  Parliamentary  Politics  in  the 

M 


178    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

Socialist  Movement.")  And  again,  "  the  travel- 
ler will  still,  under  Anarchy,  be  obliged  to  adapt 
his  arrangements  to  the  hours  and  regulations 
which  the  majority  have  thought  best."  ("  A 
Talk  between  Two  Workmen,"  p.  29,  Malatesta.) 
This  is  what  one  vulgarly  calls  "  giving  the  game 
away."  We  are  even  told  that  it  will  be  needful 
to  suppress  the  minority  should  it  persist  in 
exercising  its  "  right  to  do  as  it  pleases,"  by 
"forcible  action"!  ("A  Talk,"  p.  29.)  No 
wonder  that  Jean  Grave,  the  French  Anarchist 
writer,  whom  Octave  Mirbeau  has  described  as 
a  "  great  authority,"  almost  "  despairs  of  ever 
seeing  a  settlement  issue  from  the  chaos  of  ideas 
which  go  by  the  general  name  of  Anarchy !  " 
("  Societe  Mourante  et  I'Anarchie.") 

As  a  further  illustration  of  the  beauties  of 
Anarchist  "  organisation  "  the  following  wiU  be 
of  interest.  El  Produdor,  the  Spanish  Anarchist 
paper,  discussing  the  desirability  of  an  Inter- 
national Anarchist  Conference  in  Chicago,  pro- 
posed that  all  Anarchists  should  send  in  a 
voluntary  subscription,  accompanied  by  the  name 
of  the  delegate  whom  they  thought  best  to 
represent  them ;  when  these  votes  had  all  come 
in,  they  were  to  be  collected,  counted  up,  and 
verified,  and  the  men  whose  names  had  most 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.  ■:i79 

supporters  (that  hated  majority-rule  again)  were 
to  be  sent  to  Chicago,  there  to  give  voice  to  the 
opinions  and  wishes  of  the  Spanish  groups,  and 
to  bring  back  an  account  of  the  proceedings,  and 
the  conclusions  arrived  at.  To  these  propositions 
six  Valencia  Anarchists  answered  by  a  declaration 
in  which  they  state  that  they  are  opposed  to  the 
programme  put  forward  by  El  Productor,  which 
they  denounce  as  opposed  to  the  Anarchist 
principle,  which  denies  the  possibility  of  one  man 
representing  another  under  any  circumstances.  To 
these  objections  El  Productor  replies  by  saying 
that  it  does  not  consider  the  idea  of  representation 
to  he  opposed  to  Anarchy.  The  Valencia  Anar- 
chists go  on  to  explain  that  their  idea  of  what 
an  Anarchist  conference  should  be,  is  that  any 
Anarchist  who  feels  inclined  to  go  should  go ; 
that  he  should  go  on  no  one's  behalf  and  represent 
no  one  but  himself ;  that  the  Anarchists  thus 
assembled  should  discuss  for  their  own  benefit 
any  subjects  they  feel  inclined  to,  and  they  point 
to  the  Paris  Congress  of  1889  as  a  heau  ideal  of  an 
Anarchist  conference.  El  Productor  answers  this 
by  asking  if  a  single  object  was  attained,  or  result 
arrived  at,  by  the  Paris  Congress,  and  replies  in 
the  negative  ....  Could  any  good  come  out 
of  the  Anarchist  Nazareth  ? 


i8o    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

Speaking  of  Individualist-Anarchists,  like  Ben- 
jamin R.  Tucker,  of  Boston,  Dr.  S.  Merlino,  a 
one-time  leader  of  London  Anarchists,  says, 
"  Individualists  they  are  ....  but  certainly 
they  are  not  Anarchists.  Mr.  Tucker  .... 
distinctly  affirms  that  Anarchism  '  does  not 
mean  no  laws  and  no  coercion,'  and  advocates 
the  institution  of  '  Defence  Associations,'  other- 
wise called  Pinkerton  police."  "  Anarchist  police- 
men ....  would  be  a  fine  spectacle,"  exclaims 
Kropotkin  ("  Conquest  of  Bread ").  Aye  !  a 
sight  for  the  gods  !* 

In  retaliation  Mr.  Tucker  retorts  that  "  Anar- 
chist-Communists advocate  a  regime  of  Anarchism 
fully  as  despotic  "  as  he  imagines  State-Socialism 
would  be !  And  Henry  Seymour,  in  the 
Anarchist  (March,  1888)  supplements  this  by 
saying  that  Anarchist-Communism  is  "arbitrarily 

♦"Police  and  jails  do  not  contradict  Anarchism." 
(Liberty,  New  York,  December  26,  1891.)  "  Anarchism 
recognises  the  right  to, arrest,  try,  convict,  and  punish 
for  wrong-doing,  if  by  wrong-doing  is  meant  invasion. 
...  If  it  can  find  no  better  instrument  of  resistance  to 
invasion,  Anarchism  will  use  prisons."  (Liberty,  New 
York,  October  24,   1885.) 

"  The  Anarchism  of  to-day  affirms  the  right  of  society 
to  coerce  the  individual,  and  of  the  individual  to  coerce 
society,  so  far  as  either  has  the  requisite  power," 
(Liberty,  New  York,  June  7,   1890.) 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    i8i 

conventional  and  tjn-annic — however  professedly 
free."  "  I  have  been  behind  the  scenes,"  he 
caustically  adds. 

Let  us  try  to  understand  the  Anarchist  theory 
regarding  property.  There  is  to  be  "  possession 
in  common."  (Malato,  Freedom,  November,  1894.) 
There  is  also  to  be  private  property  :  "  We 
consistent  Anarchists  strive  to  even  extend 
private  property."  (Freedom,  June,  1891.)  "  The 
natural  law  concerning  possession  is  this  :  '  that 
they  should  take  who  have  the  power,  and  they 
should  keep  who  can.'  "  {Freedom,  August,  1889.) 
There  is  also  to  be  neither  private  property  nor 
common  property.  "  Private  owning  means  des- 
potism unalloyed,  while  common  owning  means 
mob-rule,  so  far  as  it  is  not  officialism,  and 
officialism  so  far  as  it  is  not  mob-rule  "  (L.  S.  B., 
in  Freedom,  October,  1893.) 

Bequest  is  both  allowed  and  denied.  Accord- 
ing to  the  "Anarchist's  Programme"  (Anarchist, 
March,  1888)  bequest  is  permitted  in  the  new 
regime  ("  not  denying  the  right  of  bequest  "). 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Chicago  Vorbote  (July  9, 
1890),  '*  entirely  denies  the  right  of  bequest." 
However,  to  right  this,  "  Anarchy  proclaims  the 
right  of  every  individual  to  help  himself  out  of 
the  common  stock  to  what  he  needs."  (Freedom, 


i82    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

June,  1891.)  But  stay!  "In  an  Anarchist 
society  the  man  who  would  steal  from  his  neigh- 
bour, I  hope  his  neck  would  be  introduced  to  a 
piece  of  hempen  cord."  (Freedom,  July,  1893.) 
Here  is  a  pretty  fine  kettle  of  fish  !  I  am  to  "  do 
as  I  please  ;  "  to  "  help  myself  to  what  I  need," 
but  stand  the  risk  of  being  precipitately  jerked 
into  Kingdom  Come  should  I  attempt  to  reduce 
the  theory  to  practice !  It  is  a  queer  world,  my 
masters ! 

But  still,  let  us  be  thankful  for  small 
mercies.  According  to  Malato  ("  Philosophic 
de  I'Anarchie,"  p.  51)  we  shall  still,  under 
the  new  Anarchist  dispensation,  be  able  to 
say  "  '  my  '  comb  and  brush,  *  my  '  pencil, 
*  my '  newspaper."  Thank  God  (or  Anarchy) 
for  that ! 

The  Anarchists  are  consistent  only  in  their 
inconsistency.  "  Don't  do  as  I  do  but  do  as  I 
tell  you,"  is  a  maxim  favoured  by  religionists  and 
Anarchists  alike.  By  his  very  "  principles  "  an 
Anarchist  is  excluded  from  participating  in  what 
he  calls  "  parliamentarianism."  Yet  some  of  the 
"  companions  "  recommend  the  sending  of  Anar- 
chists to  Parliament.  "  The  only  means  left 
open  to  us  now  is  to  vote,  and  a  few  Anarchists 
in  Parliament  would  do  an  immense  amount  of 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    183 

good  "  (Morrison  Davidson  at  Autonomic  Club, 
Freedom,  March,  1894.)* 

The  Anarchist  is  an  enemy  of  the  State, 
opposed  to  majority-rule,  yet  has  the  brazen 
effrontery  to  support  them.  "  All  that  is  neces- 
sary is  to  combine  and  elect  a  majority  of  one 
House  to  do  nothing''  (Van  Ornum,  "  Why 
Government  at  all  ?  ")  But  why  go  to  the 
trouble  and  expense  of  electing  Anarchists  to 
Parliament  "to  do  nothing,"  when  they  accom- 
plish that  same  result  so  very  effectually  outside  ? 
So  little  even  did  Proudhon  himself  think  of  the 
Anarchist  "  principles  "  he  himself  is  supposed 
to  have  originated,  that  he  stood  as  a  candidate 
for  the  Constituent  Assembly  of  France,  and 
advised  the  working  men  of  that  country  to  vote 
for  certain  candidates  who  pledged  themselves 
to  "  constitute  value."  The  Anarchist's  "  prin- 
ciples," in  fact,  change  with  the  condition  of  his 
liver.  He  reminds  one  of  the  candidate  for 
Parliamentary  honours  who  concluded  an  elec- 
tion   speech  by  sajdng,  "  Them's  my  principles, 

*  "Anarchism  is  as  hostile  to  the  ballot  as  peace 
is  to  gunpowder."  {Liberty,  New  York,  August  29, 
1 891.)  "Inasmuch  as  Anarchistic  associations  recog- 
nise the  right  of  secession,  they  may  utilise  the 
ballot,  if  they  see  fit  to  do  so.'*  {Liberty,  New  York, 
October  24,  1885.) 


i84    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

gentlemen,  but  if  you  don't  like  them  I  can 
change  them  !  " 

Briefly  summarised,  the  case  stands  thus  :  In 
the  coming  "  society  of  free  men  called  Anarchy," 
there  is  to  be  no  Government,  you  understand, 
but  a  "  directing  body ;  "  no  authority,  but 
"  regulations  ;  "  majority-rule  is  to  be  relegated 
to  limbo,  and  in  its  place  we  are  to  have — the 
rule  of  the  majority  ;  there  is  to  be  organisation 
and  no  organisation  ;  private  property,  common 
property,  and  no  property ;  I  am,  in  theory, 
to  do  as  I  please,  but  risk  my  neck  if  I  act  upon 
it ;  there  are  to  be  two,  three,  or  more  kinds  of 
railways,  tramways,  buildings,  canals,  systems 
of  drainage,  bridges,  etc.  (not  to  mention  lunatic 
asylums)  side  by  side  as  experiments  (why  not 
padded  rooms  fitted  to  each  house  ?).  But 
enough  !    My  brain  begins  to  whirl. 

And  now,  dear  reader  (as  they  say  in  tracts), 
after  you  have  read,  marked,  learned,  and 
thoroughly  masticated  the  above  precious  items 
of  Anarchist  "  philosophy,"  you  will  appreciate 
with  me  the  beautiful  harmony  of  "  Anarchist 
society  "  on  the  "  morrow  of  the  Revolution." 
Oh,  what  must  it  be  to  be  there ! 


XVII. 
"  PROPAGANDA  BY  DEED." 

The  following  article  is  taken  from  the  Anarchist 
journal  Liberty  (London,  March,  1894),  and  shows 
the  attitude  taken  toward  the  matter  of  bomb 
outrage  : — 

Why  I  Advocate  Physical  Force 
to  repel  the  aggressive  force  of  the  governing  class. 
By  G.  Lawrence. 

"  In  order  to  make  clear  my  advocacy  of  such 
force  as  has  been  used  on  the  Continent  (and  will 
no  doubt  be  used  sooner  or  later  in  this  country 
too)  it  is  well  to  state  what  position  in,  or  rather 
outside,  Society  it  is  from  which  I  have  to  deal 
with  the  social  problem. 

I  am  an  economic  slave ;  that  is,  I  have  to 
sell  my  labour,  being  the  only  thing  I  possess, 
to  anyone  who  will  purchase  it ;  considering 
myself  lucky  if  even  I  can  sell  it  to  advertise  the 
adulterated  food  which  poisons  me,  to  build  a 
church  which  robs  me  of  my  intellect,  to  build 
a  wall  which  prevents  my  looking  upon  natural 


i86    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

scenery  or,  worst  of  all,  to  advertise  the  cause 
of  the  candidate  for  office  whose  interests  I 
believe  to  be  diametrically  opposed  to  mine  ;  I 
am  in  a  vice.  I  must  sell  myself  to  help  do  some 
job  I  would  rather  not  have  done,  or  I  must 
starve  if  I  refuse  so  to  sell  myself.  I  am  a  slave 
because  I  cannot  choose  my  work  according  to 
my  aptitude  or  my  principles  ;  a  slave  because  I 
must  starve,  beg,  or  steal,  if  not  employed  on 
the  terms  laid  down  by  another  ;  a  slave  because 
I  cannot  choose  whether,  even  on  terms  not  my 
own,  I  wiU  be  employed — and  so  be  able  to  live 
or  not.  A  slave,  because  Society  treats  me,  not 
as  one  of  its  members,  but  as  a  tool  or  a  ware, 
to  be  disposed  of  at  any  market  value  like  a  log 
of  timber  or  a  bale  of  goods.  I  must  do  the 
bidding  of  the  commercialist  if  I  desire  to  live  ; 
the  alternative  is  starvation  and  death.  Thus, 
being  an  economic  slave,  I  have  no  political 
rights. 

Now  while  those  who  form  Society,  i.e.,  those 
who  hold  the  property  of  the  nation  and  as  a 
consequence  enjoy  political  freedom,  are  dis- 
cussing the  situation,  I  am  suffering  under  it. 
It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  there  are  plenty 
of  nostrums  advocated  for  the  regeneration  of 
Society,    by    men     who    are     politically     free. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.     187 

Hundreds  of  nostrums ;  but  no  particular  hurry  to 
come  to  any  agreement  about  them.  And  if 
one  comes  to  review  the  many  schemes  put 
forward,  it  is  plain  that  the  advocates  of  each 
of  them  are  willing  to  do  something,  provided 
only  that  the  something  to  be  done  does  not 
affect  the  schemer's  individual  position.  The 
consequence  is  that  nothing  actually  is  done. 
It  is  all  very  natural ;  self-preservation  is  the 
first  law  of  nature.  But  we  must  remember 
that  the  economic  slave  is  also  a  natural  being, 
and  must  therefore  act  in  precisely  the  same  way. 
It  is  because  I  believe  so  strongly  in  the  law 
of  self-preservation  that  I  predict  that  the  con- 
flicting schemes  propounded  by  the  propertied 
classes,  each  of  which  schemes  is  so  devised  as 
not  to  interfere  with  the  present  position  of  those 
who  devise  them,  must  inevitably  fail.  What 
then  ?  The  same  natural  law  which  thus  robs 
the  rulers  of  power,  will  assert  itself  in  the  slaves, 
causing  them  to  resort  to  the  only  means  of 
self-preservation  which  they  possess,  namely, 
physical  force.  They  will  thus  compel  Society 
either  to  make  concessions,  or  to  dissolve.  In 
the  latter  case  a  new  society  would  begin  to  grow 
according  to  the  real  aspirations  of  the  people, 
who,  having  no  longer  any  immediate  interests 


i88     CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

apart  from  the  rest  of  humanity,  would  be 
inclined  to  act  in  a  perfectly  just  and  equitable 
way. 

But  now  what  about  acts  of  individual  revolt  ? 
and  are  they  beneficial  ? 

They  are  just  as  truly  a  natural  phenomenon 
as  the  general  revolution  itself ;  justifiable, 
therefore,  in  the  same  way  and  proportionately 
beneficial.  They  are,  in  short,  part  and  parcel 
of  the  total  revolution,  and  an  important  part 
inasmuch  as  they  contribute  to  its  success  by 
forcing  upon  the  attention  of  Society  the  desperate 
condition  into  which  it  has  got,  bringing  home 
to  people  otherwise  indifferent  that  something 
is  really  and  radically  wrong.  This  cannot  but 
induce  thought  as  to  how  matters  can  be  reme- 
died. Even  though  Society  concludes  that  it 
is  best  to  hang  the  individual  rebel,  at  least  it 
has  been  moved.  The  chances  are  that  when 
action  becomes  more  frequent  Society  will  begin 
to  alter  the  manner  of  its  response.  Deeper 
consideration  will  be  given,  and  minds  thus 
unconsciously  prepared  for  the  actual  revolution. 

My  belief  is  that  through  the  acts  of  such  men 
as  Ravachol,  Pallas  and  Vaillant  all  Society  is 
roused  to  give  at  least  a  passing  thought  to  the 
social  question ;    and  the  hard  ground  is  broken 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    189 

for  those  whose  work  it  is  to  teach  the  philosophy 
of  that  question." 

The  following  article  is  taken  from  The  Torch 
of  Anarchy,  and  was  written  by  Emile  Henri,  the 
Anarchist  who  was  guillotined  for  blowing  up 
a  coffee-house  in  Paris. 

Propaganda  by  Deed. 
By  Emile  Henri. 

"  What  does  the  Anarchist  want  ?  The  au- 
tonomy of  the  individual,  the  development 
of  his  free  initiative  which  alone  can  ensure 
his  happiness,  and  it  is  solely  by  reasoning 
that  he  becomes  a  communist,  for  he  under- 
stands that  he  can  only  find  his  own  happiness 
in  that  of  all  men,  free  and  independent  like 
himself. 

''When  a  man  in  our  present  society  becomes 
a  rebel  conscious  of  his  actions,  and  such  was 
Ravachol,  it  is  because  his  brain  has  been  engaged 
in  a  work  of  reasoning  which  embodies  his  whole 
life,  analysing  the  causes  of  his  sufferings,  and 
he  alone  is  therefore  entitled  to  judge  whether 
he  is  right  or  wrong  in  his  hatred,  in  being  savage 
and  even  ferocious.  As  for  ourselves,  we  believe 
that  acts  of  brutal  revolt  like  those  which  have 
been  committed  hit  the  right  nail  on  the  head, 


igo    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

for  they  awake  the  masses  by  striking  a  heavy 
blow  at  them  and  showing  the  vulnerable  point 
of  the  Bourgeoisie,  who  stiU  tremble  at  the  moment 
the  rebel  ascends  the  scaffold. 
^  We  perfectly  understand  that  all  Anarchists 
have  not  the  temperament  of  a  Ravachol ;  each 
of  us  have  a  physiognomy  of  his  own  and  special 
aptitudes  which  distinguish  him  from  his  fellow- 
combatants. 

•t  We  say  that  love  engenders  hatred  ;  the  more 
we  love  liberty  and  equality,  the  more  must  we 
hate  all  that  which  hinders  men  from  being  free 
and  equal. 

"Thus  without  being  led  astray  by  mysticisms 
we  look  at  the  matter  from  the  standpoint  of 
reality,  and  say  :  It  is  true  that  men  are  but  the 
products  of  institutions,  yet  these  institutions 
are  but  abstract  things  which  exist  only  so  long 
as  there  are  men  of  flesh  and  blood  who  repre- 
sent  them. 

"There  is  therefore  only  one  way  of  striking  at 
these  institutions,  i.e.,  to  strike  the  men  them- 
selves, and  we  are  happy  to  vindicate  any  ener- 
getic act  of  revolt  against  the  Bourgeois  society, 
for  we  do  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the 
Revolution  can  only  result  from  the  individual 
acts  of  rebellion  all  together." 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.       191 

This  manifesto  was  issued  to  the  unemployed  in 
1886,  and  was  largely  responsible  for  the  West  End 
riots  of  February  8  of  that  year. 


ANARCHIST   MANIFESTO, 

TO    THE    UNEMPLOYED. 

The  war-cry  of  revolution — "  Work  or  Bread  " — is  ringing  in  the  air. 
Thousands  of  you  are  demonstrating  in  the  streets;  thousands  of  you 
are  parading  your  poverty  instead  of  putting  an  end  to  it.  You  cry 
for  the  crumbs  of  the  wasted  produce  of  your  underpaid  and  over- 
stocked labour — you,  who  create  all  and  are  entitled  to  all  ! 
Bread,  indeed  I  "  Man  cannot  live  by  bread  alone."  Being  apostro- 
phized as  paupers,  you  now  beg  for  Work — that  snare  by  which  your 
idle  exploiters  fatten  themselves  and  starve  you ;  work — that  seal 
of  your  slavery  1  Cowards,  not  to  take  all  you  make  I  To  work  is 
to  prolong  your  present  misery.  Your  condition  to-day — and  it 
will  become  worse — is  one  of  the  natural  and  necessary  effects  of  the 
capitalistic  commercial  system  in  which  you  are  enslaved  by  law. 

You  are  starving  because  you  have  worked  too  much  I  The 
markets  are  glutted,  the  factories  are  closed,  because  you  have 
been  too  industrious.  You  have  performed  all  the  work  that  is 
needed  and  demanded  by  Society,  but  you  have  not  been  paid. 
It  is  true  that  your  capitalistic  exploiters  doled  out  a  miserable 
portion  of  your  earnings,  sufhcient  to  keep  you  alive  merely, 
until  they  were  done  with  you.  But  it  is  your  turn  now — you  have 
not  done  with  them.  Your  day  of  reckoning  has  arrived.  Only  20 
per  cent,  of  the  products  of  labour  goes  back  to  labour :  80  per  cent,  is 
therefore  the  extent  of  the  combined  fleecings  of  the  wolves  of  usury  1 

Labour  produced  all  artificial  wealth.  Artificial  wealth  is  the  only 
kind  of  wealth  that  anyone  has  a  right  to  own,  and  as  labour  alone 
created  all  artificial  wealth,  it  rightfully  belongs  to  labour  alone. 
Those  who  monopolise  all  the  natural,  as  well  as  the  artificiai  wealth, 
to-day,  never  had  a  just  title  to  either.  They  are  the  real  rogues 
and  vagabonds,  the  only  thieves  and  loafers.  They  bribe  their 
newspaper  hacks  to  howl  you  down,  and  pay  and  pamper  the 
police  to  truncheon  you  when  you  speak  out  these  facts  in  the  name 
of  outraged  justice  !  Is  it  not  time,  then,  that  you  ceased  to  talk,  and 
made  up  your  minds  to  act  ^     Rally  under  the  banner  of  Anarchy. 


XVIII. 
DOES  SOCIALISM  LEAD  TO   ANARCHISM  ? 

It  has  been  said  that  Socialism  is  merely  the 
half-way  house  to  Anarchism.  This  belief,  so 
widespread  among  Englishmen,  is  so  palpably 
absurd  that  one  marvels  how  an  intelligent 
person  can  be  deceived  therewith. 

The  progress  of  the  Commonweal  from  Socialism 
to  Anarchism  is  instanced  in  proof.  It  will  be 
seen  from  the  headings  of  this  journal,  which 
are  herewith  reproduced,  that  originally  the 
paper  appeared  as  the  "  official  journal  of  the 
Socialist  League "  ;  that  later  it  blossomed 
forth  as  a  "  journal  of  revolutionary  Socialism  "  ; 
and  finally  as  a  "  revolutionary  journal  of  Anar- 
chist-Communism.'' This,  it  is  said,  is  proof 
of  the  close  connection  between  Socialism  and 
Anarchism.  What  are  the  facts  ?  Simply  these  : 
that  from  its  inception  the  Socialist  League  (to 
whom  the  Commonweal  originally  belonged), 
from  its  anti-political  constitution,  offered  a 
field     for     Anarchistic      propaganda.        Whilst 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.         193 


The  Official  Journal  ol  the  Socialist  Ueague. 


Vol.  2 — Na  2i 


SATITRDAY.    JULY    D,    1886.  Wmklv;  One   Pk 


A    JOURNAL    OF 

Revolutionary  Socialism. 


[Tofc  7.— No.   259] 


MARCH,     1891 


[Oki   Pcnkt.; 


A    REVOLUTIONARY    JOURNAL    OF 

Anarchist  Communism. 


fVofc  r.— No   293.]  »   SATURDAY,    DECEMBER    12.   1891,  [Wmklt  ;    Osi   Pumt.] 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF  THE    "COMMONWEAL." 


N 


194    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

consistently  repudiating  Anarchist  doctrines,  the 
Socialist  League  differed  from  other  Socialist 
organisations  which  attempted  to  realise  Socialis- 
tic projects  by  constitutional  methods,  in  that 
it  favoured  the  anarchical  policy  of  physical-force 
revolution.  A  number  of  Anarchists  joined  the 
League  (as  I  have  pointed  out  elsewhere),  with 
the  avowed  object  of  turning  its  efforts  into 
out-and-out  Anarchistic  channels.  In  this  they 
were  successful,  for  gradually  but  surely  the 
Socialists  left  the  League  in  disgust  at  their 
"  revolutionary  "  associates,  and  the  Anarchists 
were  soon  masters  of  the  situation,  having  secured 
the  printing  plant  and  machinery,  as  well  as  the 
Commonweal  itself,  immediately  converting  the 
paper  into  an  exponent  of  revolutionary  Anar- 
chist opinions.  This  is  the  real  explanation  of 
the  CommonweaVs  change  of  attitude.  Moreover, 
when  the  Commonweal  was  the  property  of  the 
Socialist  League  it  spoke  out  plainly  against 
Anarchism,  and  when  it  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Anarchists  it  most  bitterly  declaimed  against 
Socialism  and  all  its  works. 

It  is  quite  true  that  a  person  who  has  but 
an  imperfect  grasp  of  Socialist  principles  may 
possibly  tend  in  an  Anarchist  direction,  so  true 
is  it  that  a  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    195 

But  to  the  Socialist  who  is  also  a  student  of 
history  and  economics  no  such  mental  contortion 
is  possible ;  he  sees  that  as  between  Socialism 
and  Anarchism  there  must  be  war  to  the  death 
— the  one  being  the  actual  antithesis  of  the  other. 

In  the  early  infancy  of  the  Socialist  movement, 
when  the  essentials  were  a  red  tie  and  a  belief 
in  the  daily  expected  "  revolution,"  many  well- 
intentioned  but  certainly  unlearned  men  and 
women  flocked  to  the  Socialist  banner  in  the  ex- 
pectation of  the  near  approach  of  the  millennium. 
When  the  Socialist  party  attained  its  majority 
these  childish  notions  were  cast  on  one  side,  and 
the  task  it  set  out  to  accomplish  was  not  that 
of  overturning  society  and  establishing  the 
complete  Socialist  Commonwealth  at  a  blow, 
but  that  of  convincing  men  and  women  that  the 
gradual  adoption  of  CoUectivist  principles  by 
the  State  and  the  municipalities  would  prove  so 
plainly  beneficial  to  the  community  that  the 
principle  would  be  extended  until  finally  all 
industries  would  be  absorbed.  In  this  they  have 
been  eminently  successful,  for  to-day,  private 
capitalism  for  private  gain  is  being  gradually 
but  surely  superseded  by  public  co-operation 
for  public  benefits. 

This  change  of  attitude  on  the  part  of  the 


196    CONFESSIONS;OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

Socialists,  of  course,  did  not  satisfy  the  few  dis- 
contents who,  still  faithful  to  the  "  Revolution  " 
and  the  red  tie,  naturally  went  over  to  the 
Anarchists,  as  being  the  only  party  left  which 
still  stood  for  the  old  nonsensical  ideas.  Some 
few  years  back  splits  occurred  in  three  or  four 
branches  of  the  Social  Democratic  Federation, 
notably  at  Canning  Town,  Deptford,  and  Peckham. 
Some  of  the  members  who  either  resigned  or  were 
expelled  that  body,  now  constituted  themselves 
into  local  Anarchist  "  groups."  They  were 
composed  almost  entirely  of  young  and  inex- 
perienced persons — many  mere  youths  (and 
everyone  knows  that  youth  is  the  period  of 
indiscretions).  To-day  the  persons  who  once 
composed  these  three  Anarchist  "  groups "  are 
anything  but  Anarchist  in  their  sympathies ; 
many,  in  fact,  having  gone  back  to  their  old 
love — riper  age  having  brought  saner  ideas.  Of 
the  "  groups "  at  Peckham  and  Deptford  but 
two  persons  to-day  remain  faithful  to  the  Anar- 
chist cause ! 

The  belief  that  Socialism  and  Anarchism  are 
synon5niious  can  be  explained  only  on  two 
grounds ;  either  the  person  who  makes  the 
statement  is  ignorant  of  the  meaning  and  purport 
of  either  or  both  Socialism  and  Anarchism,  or  he 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    197 

is  a  person  interested  in  misrepresenting  Socialism 
from  personal  or  political  motives.  Socialism  is 
the  exact  opposite  of  Anarchism,  both  in  theory 
and  tactics.  Socialism^^means  State  and  muni- 
cipal ownership  of  the  nation's  industries  for 
the  nation's  interest.  Anarchism  means  the 
abolition  of  the  State — central  and  municipal — 
and  of  every  form  of  organisation,  system,  and 
authority  whatsoever.  Socialism  proposes  to 
reach  its  ideal  commonwealth  through  the  con- 
situtional  medium  of  parliamentary  and  municipal 
action.  Anarchism  seeks  not  to  alter  the  social 
system,  but  to  strike  at  its  representatives,  and 
its  weapons  are  the  cowardly  ones  of  knife, 
torch,  revolver,  and  bomb.  The  two  theories 
have  nothing  in  common. 


XIX. 

A    PLEA    FOR    THE    SUPPRESSION     OF 
VIOLENT  ANARCHIST  PUBLICATIONS. 

The  idea  is  becoming  general  that  the  propa- 
gandist of  violent  Anarchist  doctrine  should  be 
treated  with  the  same  severity  as  is  accorded 
those  who  carry  out  the  hateful  tenets  he  preaches. 

Human  beings,  as  we  know,  have  sometimes 
held  beliefs  of  which  crime  was  the  logical  and 
necessary  outcome — as,  for  instance,  the  Thugs 
in  India,  who  looked  upon  the  murder  of  travellers 
as  a  religious  obligation.  That  Anarchism  in  its 
violent  form  is  such  a  belief ;  that,  in  fact,  its 
creed  is  merely  a  cloak  for  crime  of  every  de- 
scription, we  have  already  seen. 

Passing  through  a  rather  low-class  part  of 
East  London,  one  fine  Sunday  morning,  I  was 
pained  to  hear  a  crowd  applaud  an  Anarchist 
street-orator,  who  was  openly  and  boldly  advo- 
cating burglary  and  crimes  of  almost  every 
description.  On  my  expressing  my  surprise  to 
a   constable   near   by   that   Englishmen   should 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    199 

approve  such  criminal  sentiments,  he  replied, 
"  Why,  sir,  them  people  practise  what  that 
fellow's  preaching — they're  thieves,  sir,  every 
man  jack  of  them." 

This  was  some  years  ago ;  since  then  I  have 
made  a  special  study  of  Anarchist  publications, 
and  become  acquainted  with  various  Anarchists 
in  different  parts  of  the  country.  The  result  of 
my  experience  is  the  conviction  that  that  con- 
stable was  right — that  the  Anarchist  agitator  is 
simply  the  mouthpiece  of  the  criminal  classes. 
We  punish  the  man  who  breaks  the  law,  but 
leave  the  maker  of  law-breakers  untouched. 

The  belief  that  "  property  is  theft "  (vide 
Proudhon,  the  "  father  "  of  Anarchism) ;  that, 
according  to  the  notorious  Malatesta,  everyone 
should  be  free  "to  do  as  he  pleases  "  under  all 
circumstances  ;  that  "  everything  belongs  to 
everyone "  (Kropotkin) ;  and  that  a  life  of 
idleness  and  robbery  culminating  in  murder, 
such  as  was  led  by  the  Anarchist  miscreant, 
Ravachol,  is  a  life  which,  according  to  the 
Commonweal f  is  "  worthy  of  emulation,"  is  a 
belief  which  is  marvellously  comforting  to  those 
of  criminal  inclination,  and  to  weak-minded 
persons  who  have  a  natural  propensity  to 
commit  acts  of  an  anti-social  character.      Such 


2oo    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

persons,     in     fact,     flock     to     the     Anarchist 
standard. 

"  Put  money  in  thy  purse,"  wrote  the  notorious 
Johann  Most,  in  his  Freiheit  of  1880.  And  the 
Anarchists  have  not  been  slow  to  act  upon  it. 
And  why  should  they  not  ?  Has  not  their  creed 
erased  the  words  "  right  "  and  "  wrong  "  from 
the  vocabulary  ?  "  A  fig  for  good  and  evil," 
exclaims  the  Anarchist  Max  Stirner  .... 
"  neither  has  any  meaning  ....  my  concern 
is'neither  the  godly  nor  the  human ;  is  not  the 
true,  the  good,  the  right,  the  free,  etc.,  but 
simply  my  own  self." 

"  Pillage  and  murder  the  rich,"  was  the 
favourite  theme,  not  only  of  the  French  Anarchist 
slang  journal  Le  Pere  Peinard,  but  of  the  various 
London  Anarchist  journals,  as  I  have  shown. 
C3n'il  Bell,  a  weU-known  London  Anarchist,  is 
reported  in  Freedom  (December,  189 1)  as  advising 
"revolt  by  refusing  payment  to  shopkeepers 
whose  goods  we  take  when  we  want  them,"  etc. 
The  Sheffield  Anarchist  said,  "  Don't  work ;  " 
and  Dr.  Creaghe,  its  editor,  says  that  the  "  only 
logical  way  for  an  Anarchist  to  make  a  livelihood 
is  by  pillage,"  which,  with  others,  he  attempted 
to  put  into  practice.  However,  after  a  while, 
he    wrote    in   the    Commonweal   that    he    was 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    201 

"  discouraged  with  regard  to  the  No  Rent  and  Rob- 
bery Propaganda."  Not,  mark  you,  because  they 
were  immoral — oh,  dear  no  ! — but  because  they 
were  rather  risky.  He  then  proposed  a  poaching 
expedition  as  the  easiest  way  of  "  living  on  the 
enemy."  "  We  should  have  to  fight  though, 
and  perchance  kill  an  occasional  keeper  or 
policeman,"  he  says,  but  this  was  only  a  mere 
detail,  hardly  worthy  of  consideration. 

The  following  is  an  extract,  not  from  some 
Burglary  Manual,  but  from  the  writings  of 
Prince  Kropotkin,  the  leader  of  London  Anar- 
chists :  "  Instead  of  inanely  repeating  the  old 
formula  '  Respect  the  law,'  we  say  '  Despise  law 
and  all  its  attributes  !  *  In  place  of  the  cowardly 
phrase  *  Obey  the  law,'  our  cry  is  '  Revolt  against 
all  laws ! '  "  The  effect  of  such  teaching  can 
only  be  to  demoralise  rather  than  to  elevate 
those  who  embrace  it.  But  it  is  especially  the 
mischievous  meddling  of  Anarchists  in  strikes 
that  is  likely,  one  day,  to  produce  results  in  this 
country  similar  to  what  has  often  taken  place 
on  the  Continent  and  in  America.  There,  acting 
upon  the  advice  of  Anarchist  agitators,  strikers 
have  introduced  the  weapons  of  the  knife, 
revolver,  torch  and  bomb.  It  is  true  that  here 
in  England  working  men  have  not  been  led  upon 

o 


202    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

this  path  of  criminality.  But  it  is  not  for  want 
of  trying  on  the  part  of  the  Anarchists.  During 
the  great  London  dock  strike  thousands  of 
Anarchist  manifestoes  headed  "  Fight  or  Starve !  '* 
were  distributed  among  the  men  on  strike, 
adv  ocating  the  pillage  of  the  shops,  the  blowing-up 
and  setting  fire  to  the  docks  and  wharves.  When 
the  East  End  tailors  struck,  the  Anarchist  cry 
was  altered  to  "  Death  to  Sweaters  !  "  While 
the  London  busmen's  strike  was  in  full  swing 
the  Commonweal  came  out  with  an  article  recom- 
mending the  poisoning  of  the  horses.  It  is  true 
the  paper  said  donH  poison  the  horses,  but  it  was 
advice  of  the  don't-nail-his-ear-to-the-pump  order. 
Among  working  men  on  strike,  especially  if 
the  position  is  getting  desperate  and  hopeless, 
there  are  always  a  number  of  hot-heads  ready 
for  mischief.  This  the  Anarchists  know  and 
take  full  advantage  of.  Thus,  if  they  are  able 
to  get  the  ear  of  men  on  strike,  their  advice  is 
always  to  "  seize  the  wealth  in  the  shops," 
hoping  thereby,  should  a  riot  occur,  they  will 
themselves  come  out  of  the  scrimmage  the  richer. 
One  Anarchist  I  know,  during  the  riots  of  1886, 
when  the  unemployed  sacked  the  shops  in  the 
West  End,  secured  valuables  which,  to  my  certain 
knowledge,   enabled  him   to   dress   in   "purple 


CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST.    203 

and  fine  linen  and  fare  sumptuously  every  day  '* 
for  over  a  twelve  month. 

To  sum  up.  We  have  seen  that  the  Anarchist 
looks  upon  all  acts  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
right  of  the  individual  to  "do  as  he  pleases'* 
under  all  circumstances,  and  who,  in  the  name 
of  that  "  right,"  passes  a  verdict  of  "  not  guilty  " 
on  the  most  atrocious  deeds,  the  most  revoltingly 
arbitrary  acts.  "  What  matter  the  victims," 
exclaimed  the  Anarchist  poet,  Laurent  Tailhade, 
on  the  evening  of  Vaillant's  outrage  in  the  French 
Chamber  ;  "  what  matters  the  death  of  vague 
human  beings  if  thereby  the  individual  affirms 
himself  ?  "  * 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  often  the  violent 
language  of  Anarchists  is  but  the  hare-brained 
rattle  of  fools  seeking  a  sensation.  Be  this  as 
it  may,  the  fact  remains  that  weak-minded 
persons,  and  those  with  criminal  leanings,  are 

*  Anarchists  certainly  have  no  liking  for  their  own 
physic.  It  appears  that  M.  Tailhade  was  wounded 
by  an  explosion  at  the  Restaurant  Foyot,  A  telegram 
in  La  'Tribune  de  Geneve  of  April  5  th,  1894,  says  : 
"M.  Tailhade  is  constantly  protesting  against  the 
Anarchist  theories  he  is  credited  with.  One  of  the 
house  surgeons,  having  reminded  him  of  his  article 
and  the  famous  phrase  quoted  above,  M.  Tailhade 
remained  silent,  and  asked  for  chloral  to  alleviate 
his  pain.'* 


204    CONFESSIONS  OF  AN  ANARCHIST. 

apt  to  take  their  writings  and  speeches  seriously, 
and  act  upon  them.  It  is  a  fact  that  every 
Anarchist  group  is  composed  largely  of  mere 
youths.  To  such,  Anarchist  views  have  some 
attraction,  as  being  calculated  to  allow  a  reckless 
independence,  freedom  from  control,  and  a  kind 
of  intellectual  audacity  which,  for  a  time,  fasci- 
nates. Accordingly,  in  the  interests  of  such,  my 
caU  is  to  everyone  who  has  the  moral  and  material 
welfare  of  the  nation  at  heart — to  political  and 
social  reformers,  to  Socialists,  and  to  every  kind 
of  ethical  and  religious  propagandist— to  unite 
in  calling  for  the  total  suppression  of  violent 
Anarchist  publications,  and  the  dealing  out  of 
equal  punishments  to  those  who  incite  to  crime 
as  for  those  who  commit  the  actual  offences. 

*'  Thy  hand,  great  Anarch,  lets  the  curtain  fall, 
And  universal  darkness  buries  aM."-^Pope, 


Wyman  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  Printers,  London  and  Reading. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

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This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

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